Jian Wang

Contact Information:

City Campus (Lincoln)
NH W342C
(402) 472-1514
jianwang@unl.edu

Wilmer J. and Sally L. Hergenrader Presidential Chair of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Graduate Chair of Materials Engineering

Academic Degrees

  • Ph.D. (Aug. 2006), Mechanical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA.
  • M. S. (Dec. 1996), Solid Mechanics, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China.
  • B. S. (Jul. 1994), Engineering Mechanics, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China.

Experience

  • Aug. 2018 ~Now Full Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska, US.
  • Aug. 2015 ~ Aug. 2018 Associate Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska, US.
  • Aug. 2014 ~ Aug. 2015, Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, US.
  • July. 2014 ~ Aug. 2014, Visiting Professor at Université de Lorraine site de Metz, France.
  • Aug. 2009 ~ Aug. 2015, Technical Staff Member, Los Alamos National Laboratory.
  • Sept. 2006 ~ Aug. 2009, Postdoctoral Researcher, Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Areas of Research and Professional Interest

Our research interests are focusing on Interface Engineering: Improve Mechanical Properties and Irradiation Tolerance of Materials by Tailoring Interfaces in Solids.

This is realized from two aspects:

  1. Discover unusual mechanical behavior (e.g., high strength and good ductility) of nanostructured composites and Develop theory and fundamental understanding of unusual mechanical behavior.
  2. Transform fundamental understanding of structural characters and deformation physics of nanostructured composites into a mesoscale capability of discovering, predicting, and designing superior nanostructured materials (strength, ductility, toughness, and radiation).

This is a multiscale effort involving synthesis, characterization, measurement, theory and modeling at different scales to design materials with desired properties. Theory and modeling at atomic scale employ Density function theory, Molecular Dynamics methods, Crystallography and Defect theory while experiments at atomic scale use transmission electron transmission microscopy to perform in situ/ex situ characterization and measurement.  Theory and modeling at micro/meso/macro scales are focusing on developing physics-based predictive materials modeling tools (Interface Dislocation Dynamics and Crystal Plasticity theory that incorporate interface physics), while experiments at micro/meso/macro scales use SEM, TEM and EBSD etc. to observe and identify deformation mechanisms and texture evolution of nanostructured materials.

About Jian Wang

Wang spent the previous nine years at Los Alamos National Laboratory, with experience as a scientist and postdoctoral researcher. His research interests include multi-scale materials modeling, interface mechanics and engineering, fabrication and mechanics of nanostructured materials and nucleation, evolution and the role of defects in solids. Wang received a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and both a master’s in solid mechanics and bachelor’s in engineering mechanics from Jiaotong University in China.

Honors and Awards

  • The TMS Brimacombe Medalist – Class of 2023.
  • Wilmer J. and Sally L. Hergenrader Presidential Chair of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, UNL, 2022.
  • Fellow of ASM International, 2022.
  • TMS Materials Processing & Manufacturing Division Distinguished Scientist/Engineer Award, 2022.
  • Fellow of ASME, December 2020.
  • College Recognition of Outstanding Research, 2020.
  • College Faculty Research & Creative Activity Award, 2018.
  • Materials Today 2018 Rising Star Award - Materials Genome, 2018.
  • International Journal of Plasticity Young Research Award, 2015.
  • TMS MPMD Young Leader Development Award, 2013.
  • LDRD/Early Career Award, 2011, Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA.
  • Distinguished Postdoctoral Performance Award, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2009.
  • Eight Journal Covers: MRS Bulletin 46(3): (2021); Small. Small 13(31): 1701756 (2017); MRS Bulletin, Vol 41(4): 274-281 (2016); JOM. The Journal of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS), vol. 68 (1), 2016; Current Opinion in Solid State & Materials Science, vol. 18, 2014; Modelling and Simulation in Materials Science & Engineering, vol. 20, 2012; Scripta Materialia, vol. 61(9), 2009; Acta Materialia, vol. 58(1), 2009.
  • Outstanding Reviewer Award of journals: Acta Materialia/Scripta Materialia, 2020; International Journal of Plasticity, 2018; Materials Characterization, 2018; Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 2018; Mechanics of Materials, 2018; Acta Materialia, 2017; Scripta Materialia, 2016; Modeling and Simulation of Materials Science and Engineering, 2016.
  • 25 ScienceDirect TOP25 Hottest Articles

Selected Publications

  1. J Wang, H Huang, SV Kesapragada, D Gall, Growth of Y-shaped nanorods through physical vapor deposition, Nano letters 5 (12), 2505-2508 (2005).
  2. J Wang, H Huang, Novel deformation mechanism of twinned nanowires, Applied physics letters 88 (20), 203112 (2006).
  3. J Wang, T Golfinopoulos, RH Gee, H Huang, Diffusion on (110) surface of molecular crystal pentaerythritol tetranitrate, Applied Physics Letters 90 (10), 101906 (2007).
  4. J Wang, RG Hoagland, JP Hirth, A Misra, Atomistic modeling of the interaction of glide dislocations with “weak” interfaces, Acta Materialia 56 (19), 5685-5693 (2008).
  5. J Wang, JP Hirth, CN Tomé, Twinning nucleation mechanisms in hexagonal-close-packed crystals, Acta Materialia 57 (18), 5521-5530 (2009).
  6. J Wang, IJ Beyerlein, CN Tomé, An atomic and probabilistic perspective on twin nucleation in Mg, Scripta Materialia 63 (7), 741-746 (2010).
  7. J Wang, N Li, O Anderoglu, X Zhang, A Misra, JY Huang, JP Hirth, Detwinning mechanisms for growth twins in face-centered cubic metals, Acta Materialia 58 (6), 2262-2270 (2010).
  8. J Wang, A Misra, An overview of interface-dominated deformation mechanisms in metallic multilayers, Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science 15 (1), 20-28 (2011).
  9. J Wang, IJ Beyerlein, JP Hirth, CN Tomé, Twinning dislocations on and planes in hexagonal close-packed crystals, Acta Materialia 59 (10), 3990-4001 (2011).
  10. J Wang, IJ Beyerlein, Atomic structures of symmetric tilt grain boundaries in hexagonal close packed (hcp) crystals, Modelling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering 20 (2), 024002 (2012).
  11. J Wang, A Misra, RG Hoagland, JP Hirth, Slip transmission across fcc/bcc interfaces with varying interface shear strengths, Acta Materialia 60 (4), 1503-1513 (2012).
  12. H Wang, PD Wu, J Wang, CN Tomé, A Crystal Plasticity Model for Hexagonal Close Packed (HCP) Crystals including Twinning and De-twinning Mechanisms, International Journal of Plasticity 49, 36-52 (2013).
  13. J Wang, RF Zhang, C Zhou, IJ Beyerlein, A Misra, Characterizing interface dislocations by atomically informed Frank-Bilby theory, Journal of Materials Research 28 (13), 1646-1657 (2013).
  14. S Zheng, IJ Beyerlein, JS Carpenter, K Kang, J Wang, W Han, NA Mara, High-strength and thermally stable bulk nanolayered composites due to twin-induced interfaces, Nature communications 4, 1696 (2013).
  15. JP Hirth, RC Pond, RG Hoagland, XY Liu, J Wang, Interface Defects, Reference Spaces and the Frank-Bilby Equation, Progress in Materials Science 58 (5), 749-823 (2013)
  16. J Wang, SK Yadav, JP Hirth, CN Tomé, IJ Beyerlein, Pure-Shuffle Nucleation of Deformation Twins in Hexagonal-Close-Packed Metals, Materials Research Letters 1 (3), 126-132 (2013).
  17. N Li, H Wang, A Misra, J Wang, In situ Nanoindentation Study of Plastic Co-deformation in Al-TiN Nanocomposites, Scientific Reports 4, 6633 (2014).
  18. Q Yu, J Wang, Y Jiang, RJ McCabe, N Li, CN Tomé, Twin–twin interactions in magnesium, Acta Materialia 77, 28-42 (2014).
  19. D Bufford, Y Liu, J Wang, H Wang, X Zhang, In situ nanoindentation study on plasticity and work hardening in aluminium with incoherent twin boundaries, Nature Communications 5, 4864 (2014).
  20. IJ Beyerlein, JR Mayeur, S Zheng, NA Mara, J Wang, A Misra, Emergence of stable interfaces under extreme plastic deformation, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111 (12), 4386-4390 (2014).
  21. BY Liu, J Wang, B Li, L Lu, XY Zhang, ZW Shan, J Li, CL Jia, J Sun, E Ma, Twinning-like lattice reorientation without a crystallographic twinning plane, Nature Communications 5, 3297 (2014).
  22. J Wang, A Misra, Strain hardening in nanolayered thin films, Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science 18 (1), 19-28 (2014).
  23. N Li, A Misra, S Shao, J Wang, Experimental Quantification of Resolved Shear Stresses for Dislocation Motion in TiN, Nano Letters 15 (7), 4434-4439 (2015).
  24. Y Chen, KY Yu, Y Liu, S Shao, H Wang, MA Kirk, J Wang, X Zhang, Damage-tolerant nanotwinned metals with nanovoids under radiation environments, Nature communications 6, 7036 (2015)
  25. A Kumar, J Wang, CN Tomé, First-principles study of energy and atomic solubility of twinning-associated boundaries in hexagonal metals, Acta Materialia 85, 144-154 (2015).

Students supervised: Dr. Mingyu Gong (Aug 2015-Dec 2019, PhD, UNL), Dr. Dongyue Xie (Aug. 2017-July 2021, PhD, UNL), Ms. Xinyan Xie (Aug. 2016-Aug. 2018, Ms, UNL), Mr. Bingqiang Wei (Aug. 2019-, PhD), Ms. Wenqian Wu (July 2019-, PhD).