Paul G. Sanders

Paul G. Sanders
"The more you do, the more you do."
—George Sanders (my Dad)

Contact

  • Patrick S. Horvath Endowed Professorship of Materials Science, Materials Science and Engineering
  • Adjunct Professor, School of Information Technology, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment at Deakin University
  • PhD, Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University
  • BS, Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Michigan Tech

Biography

  • BS in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Michigan Tech
    • Summer internships at General Motors Central Foundry in Saginaw, MI (ductile iron) and Massena, NY (lost foam aluminum)
    • Graduate internship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Metals and Ceramic Division, Metalworking Theory and Practice (Ni3Al, Fe3Al, iridium)
  • PhD in Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University
    • Synthesis, characterization, and properties of nanocrystalline Cu and Pd utilizing x-ray line broadening and small angle neutron scattering
    • Inert gas condensation processing at Argonne National Laboratory, Materials Science Division
  • Post-doc at Argonne National Laboratory, Technology Development Division (laser welding and laser surface modification)
  • Post-doc at Harvard University, Division of Engineering & Applied Science, Materials Kinetics Group (laser melting to assess solidification partitioning and diffusion)
  • Technical Leader at Ford Motor Company, Research and Advanced Engineering, Materials Science Department, Chassis Materials
    • Developed new materials and processes, especially for brake rotors
    • Certified Six Sigma Black Belt
    • Black Belt assignment at Jaguar Land Rover, Chassis Engineering
  • Since 2009 faculty at Michigan Tech, Materials Science and Engineering
    • Emphasis on materials design—integrating innovative microstructures and processes, ICME, Six Sigma, machine learning, and experimental verification.
    • Research and development funded by industry and government
    • Teach and apply methods in undergraduate Capstone Senior Design
    • Sabbatical at Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Australia
    • Foundry Educational Foundation (FEF) Key Professor
    • Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) Foundation Steel Professor

Links of Interest

Teaching Interests

  • Integration of design, ICME tools, Six Sigma, and experiments to create new materials
  • Material (Metal) Design: Microstructure design through alloy and processing
  • Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME): Thermo-Calc, MAGMASOFT
  • Six Sigma: Application of statistical tools to material design; especially designed experiments
  • Synthesize new materials through melt, deformation, or additive methods
  • Apply design, ICME, statistics, and experiments in undergraduate Capstone Design experiences

Research Interests

  • Material Design in aluminum, ferrous, nickel, copper, and zinc systems
  • Application of ICME and statistical tools to material design; use designed experiments (especially mixture DOEs and machine learning) to assess thermodynamic and kinetic processing space
  • Experimental verification of simulated material designs through metal casting, wrought (extrusion, rolling, drawing, swaging) processing, and/or additive manufacturing
  • Design and assess mechanical (tensile/fatigue/creep), electrical (conductivity), wear, and corrosion properties
  • Applications in sustainability, transportation (light weighting), efficiency (high temperature stability), and wear resistance (in process surface optimization)
  • Research areas: high temperature aluminum, cast iron, and nickel alloys; high strength aluminum, aluminum and steel alloys for wire-based additive manufacturing