The research at the Laboratory for MicroMechanics of Materials is concentrated on design, controlled fabrication/characterization and modeling of materials (including composites, superplastic, magnetic and thin film layered structures/nanostructures) for applications in renewable/clean energy and energy conversion devices as well as biomedical and tissue engineering. The main emphasis is to investigate the effect of microstructure, morphology and processing parameters on functional properties of such materials including thermomechanical, magnetic and electronic/ionic transport properties for variety of applications, such as Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs), Solar Cells and scaffold engineering.

     A variety of analytical approaches together with computational analysis (statistical analysis and neural network are used to characterize the distribution of the microstructure and its linkage to these properties. One major emphasis is to apply the concept of n-point probability functions to composites (elastic, plastic and magnetic materials) and finally to polycrystalline materials and layered structures at the nanoscale for the design and comprehensive understanding of the microstructure-property-performance relationship in composite micro/nanostructures for next generation devices.

1.   M. Baniassadi, B. Mortazavi, H. A. Hamedani, H. Garmestani, S. Ahzi, M. Fathi, M. Khaleel, D. Ruch, “Three-dimensional reconstruction and homogenization of heterogeneous materials using statistical correlation functions and FEM”, Comp. Mater. Science, vol. 51, 372-379, 2012.

2.  M. Baniassadi, A. Ghazavizadeh, Y. Remond, S. Ahzi, D. Ruch, and H. Garmestani, "Qualitative Equivalence Between Electrical Percolation Threshold and Effective Thermal Conductivity in Polymer/Carbon Nanocomposites," Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology, vol. 134, pp. 010902-5, 2012.

3.     M. Baniassadi, S. Ahzi, H. Garmestani, D. Ruch, and Y. Remond, "New approximate solution for N-point correlation functions for heterogeneous materials," Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, vol. 60, pp. 104-119, Jan 2012.

4.       M. Baniassadi, Mortazavi, B., Amani-Hamedani, H., Garmestani.H., Ahzi, S., Fathi, M., Ruch,D., Khaleel, M., "Three- dimensional reconstruction and homogenization of heterogeneous materials using statistical Correlation function," Computational Materials Science, vol. 51, pp. 372-379, 2012 2012.

5.       M. Baniasadi, A. Ghazavizadeh, Y. Rémond, A. Ahzi, D. Ruch, and H. Garmestani, "Qualitative Equivalence Between Electrical Percolation Threshold and Effective Thermal Conductivity in Polymer/Carbon Nanocomposites," J. Eng. Mater. Technol., vol. 134, 2012.

6.      H. A. Hamedani, M. Baniassadi, M. Khaleel, X. Sun, S. Ahzi, D.Ruch and H. Garmestani, “Microstructure, Property and Processing Relation in Gradient porous Cathode of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Using Statistical Continuum Mechanics”,J. Power Sources, vol. 196, 6325–6331, 2011.

7.      H. A. Hamedani, N. K. Allam, H. Garmestani, M. A. El-Sayed, “Electrochemical Fabrication of Strontium-Doped TiO₂ Nanotube Array Electrodes and Investigation of Their Photoelectrochemical Properties”, Phys. Chem. C, vol. 115, 13480–13486, 2011.

8.    P. Pooyan, R. Tannenbaum^, H. Garmestani, Mechanical behavior of a cellulose-reinforced scaffold in vascular tissue engineering, Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, Vol. 7, 50–59, 2012.

9.       Z. R. Hesabi, K. A. Nageh, D. Klaus, H. Garmestani, and M. A. El-Sayed, "Self-Standing Crystalline TiO₂ Nanotubes/CNTs Heterojunction Membrane: Synthesis and Characterization," Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2011.