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Christian Roach

croac001@ucr.edu

FAVORITE SUPERHERO: Nightcrawler
DEGREE TYPE: PhD
PROGRAM: Materials Science and Engineering
DEGREE STATUS: PhD Candidate

RESEARCH FOCUS:

Deformation behaviour in Nanocrystalline Magnesuim alloys

DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH:

Magnesium alloys are the lowest density structural metals available making them useful in mass-critical operations. Unfortunately they also suffer from low plasticity due to basal plane slip as the dominating mechanism, and thus have limited formability near room temperature. The current strategy to promote other deformation modes is to increase temperature, a truly ancient technique. Christian’s research attempts to increase room temperature plasticity through grain size reduction and minor-alloying. High-Energy Ball Milling along with Spark Plasma Sintering are utilized to increase solubility, refine grains, and achieve full density without significant grain growth or segregation.

CURRENT GROUPS:

Mathaudhu Research Group

OTHER GROUPS/ORGS/CLUBS:

Materials Advantage

AWARDS:

  • NSF Student Grant for PowderMET 2017 (1724591)
  • Gordon Research Conference on Physical Metallurgy Student scholarship 2017
  • Dean’s Distinguished Fellow

PRESENTATION TITLES:

(T for talk, P for Poster)

Presentations

  • “PM Magnesium for Lightweighting Applications” PowderMET Las Vegas, NV June 16, 2017 (T)
  • “Microstructural Evolution in Dilute Mg-X Binary Alloys Processed by Mechanical Alloying” TMS San Diego, CA Feb 27, 2017(T)
  • “Mechanical Properties of a High Coercivity FeCrCoMnNi High Entropy Alloy” MS&T Salt Lake City, UT Oct 24, 2016(T)
  • “High Strength Mg-Alloys via Powder Metallurgy: Current Results and Future Opportunities” TMS Nashville, TN. Feb 16, 2016 (T given in place of S. Mathaudhu)
  • “A Roadmap for Nanocrystalline Mg-Y & Mg-Al” PRISMs workshop Ann Arbor, Michigan Sept 3, 2015 (P)

CONFERENCES ATTENDED:  (A)/Presented at (T for talk, P for poster)

  • Applied Superconductivity 2010 (A)
  • TMS 2016 (T)
  • MS&T 2016 (T)TMS 2017 (T)
  • PowderMET 2017 (T)
  • GRC Physical Metallurgy 2017 (P)

PAPERS:

(P for published, I for in review, D for draft)

Ishmael, S. A., Rogers, S., Hunte, F., Naderi, G., Roach, C., Straka, W., & Schwartz, J. (2015). Current Density and Quench Behavior of MgB 2/Ga Composite Wires. IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, 25(6), 1-8. (P)

REASONS FOR GRAD SCHOOL:

I have an intense interest in MSE and want to understand it as deeply as possible. This is difficult to do while working full time, so I decided to return to graduate school to further hone my skills and knowledge.

UNDERGRAD SCHOOL:

North Carolina State University

UNDERGRAD PROGRAM:

Materials Science and Engineering

UNDERGRAD RESEARCH:

High Temperature Superconductors (Schwartz Research Group)

INTERNSHIPS:

DuPont (2011, 2012)

WORK EXPERIENCE:

Apex Instruments

AWARDS:

  • Winner of Senior Design project for ATI Metals
  • 3rd place Punkin Chunkin 2012- Roman Revenge
  • Eagle Scout, Troop 208 Cary, NC

PREVIOUS GROUPS:

Schwartz Research Group

PRESENTATIONS/CONFERENCES ATTENDED:

  • Applied Superconductivity Conference 2010, Washington DC

REASONS FOR ENGINEERING:

Constantly taking things apart and (attempting) to re-assemble them. Much more inclined with math, science, and spatial reasoning than humanities or linguistics. Fascinated by atomic interactions and gaining a deeper understanding of how everything works.

CAREER ASPIRATIONS:

Innovate technology to make people’s lives easier