Research Interests

Professor Vlassak studies the thermo-mechanical behavior of a broad range of engineering materials. He has developed experimental methods to characterize phase transitions and solid-state reactions in thin films, plastic deformation of coatings, elastic anisotropy in indentation, and fracture of thin films.

Current experimental research projects focus on the mechanical behavior of hydrogels and on hydrogen embrittlement of alloys used for hydrogen storage. Professor Vlassak pioneered the use of combinatorial nanocalorimetry for the development and analysis of complex materials systems, including metallic glasses, ultra-high temperature ceramics, and high-temperature shape memory alloys.

Past research projects focused on the mechanical degradation of electrodes in lithium ion batteries as a result of lithium insertion, on the effects of microstructural length scales on the mechanical behavior of thin metal films, and on the effect of chemical species on the adhesion and delamination of multilayered structures containing low-k dielectrics.

Theoretical work includes modeling of chemical mechanical polishing

(CMP) based on contact mechanics, channel cracking in films on substrates of finite thickness, and various analyses of the effects of substrate properties and film porosity on nanoindentation of thin films.

Related Publications

A Micromachined Picocalorimeter Sensor for Liquid Samples with Application to Chemical Reactions and Biochemistry (2021)

Nanocalorimetry and ab initio study of ternary elements in CuZr-based shape memory alloy (2020)

Chemically Coupled Interfacial Adhesion in Multimaterial Printing of Hydrogels and Elastomers (2020)

Lightweight highly tunable jamming-based composites (2020)

Tough adhesives for diverse wet surfaces (2017)

Measurements of the fracture energy of lithiated silicon electrodes of Li-ion batteries (2013)

Highly stretchable and tough hydrogels (2012)

Affiliations

Center for Nanoscale Systems

Assistant

Melissa Majkut 617-496-5167