AME Hosts Singh Seminar

DSC_3618On Wednesday, April 15, 2015, Dr. Raman P. Singh visited AME for a seminar presentation. His seminar  was titled, Quantitative Atomic Force Microscopy as a Tool to Study Heterogeneous Materials.

Dr. Singh visited from Oklahoma State University where he is the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Director of the Helmerich Research Center and C.F. Colcord Professor in the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology.

Bio: Dr. Raman P. Singh is a C.F. Colcord Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and currently serves as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology at Oklahoma State University. He is also the Director of the Helmerich Research Center at the OSU-Tulsa campus. He holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics from the University of Rhode Island and a B.Tech. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology from Kanpur, India. Prior to joining OSU in 2006, Singh was a faculty member at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Before working in New York, he was a post-doctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology.
Singh’s academic interests are in student mentorship, development and retention with a focus on new pedagogical methods. His research interests are in the mechanics of advanced materials with an emphasis on the investigation of modern engineered materials and development of new techniques for mechanical characterization at highly localized length scales. Besides academia, Raman enjoys road-trips, being a life-long student, photography and spending time with his two daughters.

Abstract: This seminar presented the use of quantitative atomic force microscopy based indentation to characterize the mechanical properties of a carbon fiber–epoxy matrix interphase at highly localized length scales. Atomic force microscopy is a valuable tool for qualitative characterizations of material surfaces. Nonetheless, its application to quantitative measurements is hampered by various technical issues. Accordingly, the talk will discuss how issues such as spring calibration, tip geometry, surface roughness and substrate effects were taken into account to obtain accurate quantitative mechanical proper ties of interphase region.
Lastly, the seminar discussed the use of surrogate modeling to characterize non-linear viscoelastic materials based on inverse analysis of indentation data. In this form, the technique can be extended to study mechanical properties complex biological structures such as the ear-drum (or tympanic membrane) or the heart wall.

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