Two General Engineering faculty members are in charge of this laboratory:

Dr. Shafiq has over ten years of experience working in the general area of damage and fracture mechanics. He has studied various aspects of damage and fatigue life of polymer matrix composites, concrete, high strength aluminum, landing gear steel and sandwich composites.

Dr. Suárez's areas of expertise include solidification processes, heterogeneous nucleation in aluminum alloys, melt treatment of cast metals, processing of cast aluminum matrix composites, thermal analysis and microstructure characterization of cast irons, and solid state transformations in cast alloys and metallic matrix composites.

In addition, two General Engineering faculty members are affiliated to the laboratory:

Dr. Uwakweh has ample experience in phase transformation in metallic systems, high energy processing, and processing induced phenomena. He is also interested in application of novel techniques in structural controls of thin and thick films, functional materials, intermetallics, thermal analyses, neutron diffraction, electron microscopy, Mössbauer effect measurements, and nanomaterials and nanotechnology.

Dr. Shafiq is currently involved in the following projects:

Corrosion fatigue safe-life analysis of 7075-T6 -Al and A300 steel using strain-life methodology for crack initiation and fracture mechanics for crack growth stages. Develop a methodology for damage tolerant design for Naval aircraft structures.

Finite element analysis of damage in sandwich composites. Complex 3-D mesh generation and orthotropic analysis of stealth ship hulls. Multi-component analytical damage assessment of stealth ships. Methodology to incorporate FEA techniques in routine damage inspection in the field.

Acoustic emission NDE to assess damage in various constituents of laminated and sandwich composites. Establishment of acoustic signatures identifying core crushing, delamination, face-sheet separation and crack initiation and growth under fatigue testing conditions.

Dr. Suárez's ongoing research involves the following projects:

Study of novel aluminum matrix composites reinforced with borides, their solidification, microstructures, and heat treatment by means of thermal analysis, image analysis, and corrosion tests.

Cast iron microstructures and thermal analysis. Effect of post-inoculation additions on ductile iron properties. Chilling tendency in cast irons. Prediction of properties based on computer and statistical modeling.

Materials recycling. Alternative applications to recycled materials. Technological and environmental issues.