Yong Gao

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
MS 62-223
Berkeley, CA 94720
Lab phone: (510) 486-5656
Home phone: (650) 210-8089
email: yonggao@berkeley.edu  or  ygao@lbl.gov

EDUCATION 

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

  • Graduate Research Assistant, University of California at Berkeley, Advisor: Prof. Robert. O. Ritchie, 2001-2006

    •    Grain Boundary Engineering in Promoting High-Cycle Fatigue Resistance and Improving Reliability in Metallic Alloys For Propulsion Systems
    ·  Conducting thermo-mechanical processing to optimize the microstructure and increase the proportion and contiguity of special “grain boundaries” in high-purity nickel and nickel alloys.
    · Characterizing different microstructures, inlucding the grain boundary character distribution (GBCD), texture, grain size distribution by SEM, TEM, EBSD and OIM.
    · Studying the effect of such microstructures on the stress/life fatigue properties (both large and small fatigue-crack).

  • Research Assistant,  New Carbon Materials Laboratory, Dept. of Mater. Sci. & Eng., Tsinghua University,  Advisor: Prof. Jialin Gu,  1998 - 2001
    •      Research focuses on:
    · Investigated the relationship between mechanical properties (fracture mechanism) and microstructures of flexible graphite sheets
    · Studied on natural graphite processing, preparation and characterization of porous carbon materials
    · Fabricated carbonaceous powder using ball and jet mills, exfoliated graphite, and different graphite intercalated compoundsfor additive for the application of lubricant, anode material of Li ion battery, and padding for conductive coating.
  • Summer Intern, BaShan Factory, Zibo, ShanDong Province, China,  Summer 1999
    •    Improved the oxidation-resistant properties of graphite electrodes, and sintering techniques and surface modification of SiC tubes

    TEACHING EXPERIENCE


    Teaching Assistant for E45 (properties of materials) lectured by Prof. J.W Morris,
    Department of Material Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley                     Spring 2005
    lead  lab sessions with special emphasis on relation between microstructure and the properties of materials

    Teaching Assistant         for MSE 130A (Experimental Materials Science) lectured by Prof. O.D Dubon
    Department of Material Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley                     Fall  2005
    lead      lab sessions with special emphasis on electrochemical properties of materials, design and material selection for batteries.


    TECHNICAL SKILLS

    Materials Characterization: SEM, TEM, Focused Ion Beam (FIB), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD), Orientation Imaging Microscopy (OIM).
    Mechanical Property Testing: Hardness testers (Vickers, Rockwell, Brinell), Material Testing System.
    Materials Processing: milling, grinding, polishing, drilling, and cutting; SEM and TEM sample preparation; focused ion beam fabrication.
    Computer and Modeling: Matlab, Mathematica, MS Office/LaTex, and HTML.

    COURSEWORK

    GRADUATE LEVEL:
    Thermodynamics and Phase Transformations in Solids, Semiconductor Materials, Defects in Solids, Crystal Structure and Bonding, Theory of Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Diffraction, Deformation, Fracture and Fatigue, An Introduction to the Finite Element Method, Numerical Analysis, Foundation of Materials Science, Advanced Preparation Technology of Metallic Materials, Thin Film Science and Technology, Graphite Intercalation Compounds and Layered Structure Materials, Strength and Fracture.

    UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL:
    Properties of Materials, Chemistry of Materials, Experimental Materials Science,  Fundamentals of Materials Science, Physics of Electronic Materials, Electronic Materails and Principle of Device Technology, Fundamentals of Electronics, Introduction to Solid State Physics, Electrical Engineering, Electronic Working Practice, Metal Working Practice, Electron-Microscopy Analysis, X-ray Diffraction Method, Optic-Microscopy and Analysis, Corrosion and Protection, Failure Analysis, Engineering Mechanics, Mechanical Properties of Materials, Structural  Aspects of  Biomaterials,  Polymer Chemistry and Physics, Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Metallurgical Process and Quality Control, Metallography and Heat Treatment, Measurment and Control to Test Parameters, Theoretical Basis of Thermal Engineering, New Carbon Materials, Probability and Statistics, Methods of Mathematics and Physics, Mathematical Modeling, Fuzzy Mathematics, Physics, Calculus, Computer Language and Programming, Fundamentals of Computer Software, Fundamentals of Computer Hardware, Fundamentals of Machine Design, Engineering Drawing, Russian.

    PUBLICATIONS

    1. Y. Gao, J. Stolken, M. Kumar,  R. O. Ritchie, High-cycle Fatigue of Nickel-base Superalloy ME3: Interaction of Microstructurally-Small Cracks with Grain Boundaries of Known Character, submitted.

    2. Y. Gao, M. Kumar, R. Nalla, R. O. Ritchie, High Cycle Fatigue of a Nickel-base Superalloy ME3 at Ambient and Elevated Temperatures: Role of Grain Boundary Engineering, Metallurgical and Materials Transaction A, vol. 36A (12), Dec. 2005, pp. 3325-3333.
    3. J. Gu, Y. Leng, Y. Gao, H. Liu, F. Kang, W. Shen, Fracture Mechanism of Flexible Graphite Sheets, Carbon, 40, 2002, pp. 2169–2176.
    4. J. Gu, Y. Gao, F. Kang, W. Shen, Characterization of Carbonaceous Materials Prepared by Jet-milling, Advanced Materials Symposium, 2001, pp. 210–218.
    5. Y. Gao, J. Gu, F. Kang, W. Shen, Br-Graphite Intercalation Compounds, Carbon Techniques, 2000, No.4, pp. 21–25.
    6. J. Gu, Y. Gao, F. Kang, W. Shen, The Relationship between Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of Flexible Graphite, 1st Carbon Materials Symposium, 2000, pp. 101–107.
    7. J. Gu, Y. Leng, Y. Gao, Effect of Pore Structure on Mechanical Properties of Flexible Graphite Sheet, New Carbon Materials, Vol.14, No.4, 1999, pp. 22-27.
    8. Y. Gao, H. Liu, J. Gu, Computer Simulation of Tensile Strength of Ideal Flexible Graphite, New Carbon Materials, Vol.14, No.3, 1999, pp. 7–13.
    9. J. Gu, Y. Leng, Y. Gao, F. Kang, W. Shen, Microstructural Effect on Mechanical Properties of Flexible Graphite Sheet, 24th Biennial Conference of Carbon, 1999, pp. 658–659.
    10. J. Gu, H. Liu, Y. Gao, F. Zhang, F. Kang, W. Shen, Porous Structure of Flexible Graphite, International Symposium of Carbon, 1998, Tokyo, Japan, pp. 570–571.

    References

    Available upon request

    Useful Links
    Ritchie Group
    MSD , LBNL
    Dept of MSME , UC Berkeley
    Last updated 02/05