Skip to main content
Department of Materials Science and Engineering College of Engineering

DEMILICH

Data science Enabled Mechanistic Investigation of Liquid metal Infiltration, Cracking, and cHemical attack

Liquid Metal Embrittlement is a phenomenon in which a typically ductile solid metal becomes brittle or otherwise weakened in a particular liquid metal environment. Despite being studied for over 100 years, no proposed mechanism exists that satisfactorily describes even a majority of liquid metal embrittlement systems, and no model has been developed that can predict whether and given liquid-solid metal couple will result in embrittlement. The goal of this project is to leverage modern data science and machine learning techniques to identify previously hidden trends in historical data, and to guide experimentation to develop a model of LME to enable prediction and to reduce the hazard posed to emerging liquid metal based technologies such as flexible gallium based conductors or liquid cooled nuclear reactors.

Research Activities: Datamining, Clustering Analysis, Machine Learning, Mechanical Testing, In-Situ Scanning Electron Microscopy, Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD), Thermo-Calc.

Group Members Involved: Justin Norkett, Benjamin Begley, June Mizak

Recent Publications:

  1. B.A. Begley, J.E. Norkett, C. Frampton, & V.M. Miller. Classification of the Mechanisms of Liquid Metal Embrittlement Via Machine Learning. JOM  76, 885–896 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-023-06326-z
  2. J.E. Norkett, B.T. Anthony, & V.M. Miller. Multiplicity and Separability of the Mechanisms of Liquid Metal Embrittlement in the Ga–In–Al System. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A 54, 2791–2802 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-023-07056-2
  3. J.E. Norkett, M.D. Dickey, & V.M. Miller. A Review of Liquid Metal Embrittlement: Cracking Open the Disparate Mechanisms. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A 52, 2158–2172 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-021-06256-y
  4. J.E. Norkett & V.M. Miller. Liquid-Metal-Mediated Recrystallization of Zinc Under Ambient Conditions. JOM  72, 860–867 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-019-03954-2