MMAE Seminar - Role of Microscopy in Metallurgy and Catalysis: From Reactors to Atoms

Armour College of Engineering's Mechanical Materials & Aerospace Engineering Department will welcome Dr. Cem Akatay and Dr. Ben Tiemens from Universal Oil Products LLC, A Honeywell Company, to campus on Wednesday, March 4th, to present their lecture, "Role of Microscopy in Metallurgy and Catalysis: From Reactors to Atoms."

Abstract

Addressing the world's energy requirements involves a variety of material challenges that span a wide range of length scales. The processing of hydrocarbons includes metal reactors that reach tens of meters in height on one end of the spectrum and need to withstand high temperatures and corrosive environments. At the same time, on the other end of the spectrum, supported metal catalysts on the atomic scale play a key role in performing the desired hydrocarbon reactions. The ability to characterize and study materials across the full size spectrum is key in both developing new processes as well as troubleshooting and optimizing existing units.

This talk will introduce how UOP utilizes microscopy to characterize materials across length scales. The first part of the talk will focus on how optical and scanning electron microscopy are used to characterize larger-scale metallurgical challenges. The second part will summarize the nanoscale characterization efforts using the world's most powerful scanning transmission electron microscopes, trying to understand how differences at the nanoscale affect the performance of engineered materials in the field.

Biographies

Ben Tiemens has a B.S. in Materials Engineering from the California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University. Since joining UOP in 2006, Ben has worked in the Materials Characterization department within R&D as a metallurgical specialist and has been the manager of the Microscopy and Metallurgy group starting in 2013. Ben's research focus areas include metal alloy design, high-temperature corrosion, advanced characterization techniques, and mechanical testing of metals and ceramics.

Cem Akatay has obtained a B.S. degree in Materials Science and Engineering with a minor in Physics from Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey, and a Ph.D in Materials Engineering from Purdue University, IN. Cem joined UOP in 2014 as a Senior Research Scientist in the Materials Characterization department with the R&D unit. Cem's research focuses on developing methods to link the structure at the nanoscale to the performance of materials by using high-resolution electron microscopy combined with elemental analysis and 3D imaging.