Energy is a key defining technical, social, and political issue of this century. While there are enormous pressures to reduce energy consumption, there will continue to be significant growth in the worldwide demand for energy. The gap between energy consumption and energy production must be met by advances in energy-related technologies, improvements in energy efficiencies, and the diversification of energy sources. To that end, materials are central to almost every energy technology, and future energy technologies will place increasing demands on materials performance with respect to extremes in, for instance, temperature and chemical reactivity. This presentation will highlight the use and needs of high-temperature materials in the context of improving energy efficiency. Specific examples will be provided by summarizing some recent research efforts by our group at the University of Pittsburgh.   

 

Brian Gleeson is currently the Harry S. Tack Chaired Professor of Materials Science in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also the Chairman of this department. Prior to taking the Chairman position in May, 2014, he served as Director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Energy (2008-2014). Dr. Gleeson received his degrees in materials science & engineering (MSE) from the University of Western Ontario, Canada (BE in 1984; ME in 1986) and the University of California at Los Angeles (Ph.D., 1989). He was a postdoctoral fellow and then a faculty member in the MSE Department at the University of New South Wales, Australia, from 1990-1997. He moved to Iowa State University (ISU) in 1998, where, in 2006, he was appointed the Renken Professor of MSE. From 2001-2006 he also served as Director of the Materials & Engineering Physics Program at the USDOE Ames Laboratory, which is managed by ISU. In the fall of 2007 he moved to the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests include the high-temperature degradation behavior of metallic alloys and coatings; phase equilibria and transformations; deposition and characterization of metallic coatings; and diffusion and thermodynamic treatments of both gas/solid and solid/solid interactions. He is Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Oxidation of Metals.