Mechanical Engineering
Contact Information
Office:
Washburn Shops, 319
Phone: +1-508-831-6168
Fax: +1-508-831-5993
lados@wpi.edu
Diana A. Lados
- Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering
- Affiliated with:
Research Interests
- Fatigue, fatigue crack growth, fracture
- Design and optimization of materials for fatigue and fatigue crack growth resistance in automotive, aerospace, marine, and military applications
- Light metals (traditionally cast and semi-solid processed)
- Advanced microstructure characterization and microstructure-performance relationships optimization
- Physical metallurgy aspects of solidification processes of cast alloys
- Impact of post-solidification operations (heat treatment) on mechanical properties, fatigue, fatigue crack growth, and fracture behavior of materials
- Alloy/process development from fundamentals to production
- Traditional and novel techniques to measure residual stress and new methods to compensate for its presence
- Evaluate plasticity contributions to fatigue crack growth and fracture toughness and introduce elastic/plastic growth analyses
- Closure and long-crack to small-crack correlations in fatigue crack growth
- Fracture mechanics concepts and their application to residual stress and crack closure corrections
- "On-line" residual stress, plasticity, and closure corrections techniques
- Develop appropriate/compatible fatigue life prediction models
- Powder metallurgy
- Novel, forensic, and historic materials
Education
- BS, Polytechnic University of Bucharest, 1997
- MS, Polytechnic University of Bucharest, 1997
- MS, Southern Illinois University, 1999
- PhD, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 2004
Featured Publications
- D.A. Lados, D. Apelian, and J.F. Major, "Fatigue Crack Growth Mechanisms at the Microstructure Scale in Al-Si-Mg Cast Alloys: Mechanisms in Regions II and III", to appear in Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A.
- D.A. Lados, D. Apelian, and J.K. Donald, "Fracture mechanics analysis for residual stress and crack closure corrections", International Journal of Fatigue (in press).
- D.A. Lados, D. Apelian, and J.K. Donald, "Effect of Asymmetric Residual Stress on the Fatigue Crack Growth Behavior of Cast Al-Si-Mg Alloys"; to appear in Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A.
- D.A. Lados, D. Apelian, and L. Wang, "Quenching Modes and Residual Stress Levels in Cast Al-Si-Mg Alloys: Mechanisms and Effects on Static and Dynamic Properties"; to appear in the Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 2006.
- D.A. Lados, D. Apelian, and J.K. Donald, "Fatigue Crack Growth Mechanisms at the Microstructure Scale in Al-Si-Mg Cast Alloys: Mechanisms in the Near-threshold Regime", Acta Materialia, 2006 (in press).
Professional Highlights
- 1st Prize - Scientific Session Contest, Bucharest, Romania, 1996
- Best Graduate Student Award (sef de promotie - Polytechnic University of Bucharest), 1997
- ASM Chet Inman Award Scholarship, 1999-2000
- American Foundry Society - Aluminum Division Award, 2000
- Sigma Xi Graduate Research Scientific Award, 2001
- Axel Madsen Scholarship Award - Center for Powder Metallurgy Technology, 2003
- Finalist Bodycote Paper Prize Competition 2004, UK
