Abstract: Materials can play a pivotal role in advancing the state of nuclear energy both domestically and aboard by increasing safety, efficiency, and operational lifetime. Until recently,
most advances in materials design for nuclear energy have been incremental – slight changes of composition here or tweaks in microstructure there. This talk will focus on research directions established at the University of Michigan to enable breakthroughs in the development of advanced nuclear materials by applying innovations in other research fields such as use of machine learning techniques. Recent results, including automated defect detection and analysis in electron micrographs, will be presented. The presentation will conclude with how these emerging techniques can be applied to Prof. Field’s other research directions including advanced alloy development and radiation effects to establish a new nuclear materials development workflow that expediates the development, testing, and deployment of novel materials for nuclear energy.

Biography: Dr. Kevin Field is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences at the University of Michigan where his research specializes in alloy development and radiation effects in ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. His active research interests include advanced electron microscopy and scattering-based characterization techniques, additive/advanced manufacturing for nuclear materials, and the application of machine/deep learning techniques for advanced innovation in characterization and development of materials systems. Prof. Field moved to University of Michigan in the Fall of 2019 after nearly seven years at Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he first started as an Alvin M. Weinberg Fellow and left at the level of Staff Scientist. Prof. Field has presented and published numerous manuscripts on radiation effects in various material systems relevant for nuclear power generation including irradiated concrete performance, deformation mechanisms in irradiated steels, and radiation tolerance of enhanced accident tolerant fuel forms. Dr. Field received his B.S. (2007) from Michigan Technological University in Materials Science & Engineering and his M.S. (2009) and Ph.D. (2012) from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in Materials Science with a focus on segregation phenomena in ion and neutron irradiated ferrous-based alloys. Dr. Field’s work has been recognized through several avenues including receiving the prestigious Alvin M. Weinberg Fellowship from ORNL in 2013 and being awarded the UT-Battelle Award for Early Career Researcher in Science and Technology in 2018.