Professor Ke Lu
Senior Fellow of Institute for Advanced Study, City University of Hong Kong
Member of Chinese Academy of Sciences,
German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina,
Third World Academy of Sciences
Contact Information
| Office: | lu@imr.ac.cn |
|---|---|
| Phone: | +86-24-2397-1508 |
| Web: | Personal Homepage |
Professor Ke Lu (B. S. in materials science and engineering, Nanjing University of Science & Technology, 1985; PhD in MSE, Institute of metal Research of CAS, 1990) is a professor and the founding director of Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science (SYNL). He was a visiting professor in Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung (Stuttgart, Germany) and in University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA).
Professor Lu's icon scientific achievements include two parts:
(1) Discovery of nano-twinned materials and development of the nano-twin strengthening methodology. Traditional strengthening methodologies of materials (such as alloying, strain-hardening, dispersion strengthening, etc.) invariably suffer from an undesirable consequence that strength increases at an expense of ductility and thermal and/or electrical conductivity. Professor Lu and his co-workers discovered that by generating high density of nano-scale twins in grains, pure copper is strengthened by one order of magnitude while keeping its high electrical conductivity and a considerable ductility. They identified that the high density of twin boundaries may effectively block dislocation motions to strengthen materials, and at the same time, twin boundaries may act as dislocation slip planes to accommodate strains. With this discovery, Professor Lu and his collaborators developed a novel strengthening methodology, i.e., nano-twin strengthening, overcoming the conventional property trade-offs.
(2) Development of surface nanocrystallization of metals, from concept and principles to processing technology. Based on plastic deformation induced grain refinement mechanism, Professor Lu and his collaborators invented mechanically-driven surface nanocrystallization processes such as surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) and surface mechanical grinding treatment (SMGT) techniques to transform the coarse-grained structures into gradient nano-grained structures in surface layers on bulk metals. Such an elastic-homogeneous and plastic-heterogeneous gradient architecture provides a unique structure to upgrade the overall properties and performance of the bulk materials, including mechanical properties, surface chemical reactivity, and tribological behaviors of engineering materials. They discovered that with a gradient nano-grained surface layer, strength of a pure Cu bar can be doubled while its tensile ductility remains unchanged. The extraordinary intrinsic plasticity of gradient nano-grained structures offers a great potential for use as advanced coatings of bulk materials. Recently, by means of SMGT processing of nickel Professor Lu discovered ultra-hard and ultra-stable nano-laminated structures with low-angle boundaries, which offers a novel strong-and-stable nanostructure in metals.
He authored and co-authored more than 380 international peer-reviewed journal publications, held 30 patents, and presented over 100 invited lectures at international conferences and symposia. His publications received more than 20000 ISI citations. He is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2003), a member of German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (2005), and a member of TWAS (2004). He is an editor of Progress in Materials Science (Elsevier) and a reviewing editor of Science (AAAS). He received Humboldt Research Award (AvH Foundation, Germany, 2011), THERMEC Distinguished Award (Canada, 2006), TWNSO Award in Technology (TWAS, 2000), Kelly Lecturer (University of Cambridge, UK, 2010). He is a Fellow of the AAAS (USA), MRS (USA), and APAM.
Professor Lu's icon scientific achievements include two parts:
(1) Discovery of nano-twinned materials and development of the nano-twin strengthening methodology. Traditional strengthening methodologies of materials (such as alloying, strain-hardening, dispersion strengthening, etc.) invariably suffer from an undesirable consequence that strength increases at an expense of ductility and thermal and/or electrical conductivity. Professor Lu and his co-workers discovered that by generating high density of nano-scale twins in grains, pure copper is strengthened by one order of magnitude while keeping its high electrical conductivity and a considerable ductility. They identified that the high density of twin boundaries may effectively block dislocation motions to strengthen materials, and at the same time, twin boundaries may act as dislocation slip planes to accommodate strains. With this discovery, Professor Lu and his collaborators developed a novel strengthening methodology, i.e., nano-twin strengthening, overcoming the conventional property trade-offs.
(2) Development of surface nanocrystallization of metals, from concept and principles to processing technology. Based on plastic deformation induced grain refinement mechanism, Professor Lu and his collaborators invented mechanically-driven surface nanocrystallization processes such as surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) and surface mechanical grinding treatment (SMGT) techniques to transform the coarse-grained structures into gradient nano-grained structures in surface layers on bulk metals. Such an elastic-homogeneous and plastic-heterogeneous gradient architecture provides a unique structure to upgrade the overall properties and performance of the bulk materials, including mechanical properties, surface chemical reactivity, and tribological behaviors of engineering materials. They discovered that with a gradient nano-grained surface layer, strength of a pure Cu bar can be doubled while its tensile ductility remains unchanged. The extraordinary intrinsic plasticity of gradient nano-grained structures offers a great potential for use as advanced coatings of bulk materials. Recently, by means of SMGT processing of nickel Professor Lu discovered ultra-hard and ultra-stable nano-laminated structures with low-angle boundaries, which offers a novel strong-and-stable nanostructure in metals.
He authored and co-authored more than 380 international peer-reviewed journal publications, held 30 patents, and presented over 100 invited lectures at international conferences and symposia. His publications received more than 20000 ISI citations. He is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2003), a member of German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (2005), and a member of TWAS (2004). He is an editor of Progress in Materials Science (Elsevier) and a reviewing editor of Science (AAAS). He received Humboldt Research Award (AvH Foundation, Germany, 2011), THERMEC Distinguished Award (Canada, 2006), TWNSO Award in Technology (TWAS, 2000), Kelly Lecturer (University of Cambridge, UK, 2010). He is a Fellow of the AAAS (USA), MRS (USA), and APAM.
Professional Experience
| July 2001-Present | Director, Institute of Metal Research, CAS |
| March 2001-Present | Director, Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science |
| Jan. 2005-Dec 2007 | Dean, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University |
| July 1997-Mar. 2001 | Director, State Key Laboratory for Rapidly Solidified Non-equilibrium Alloys Institute of Metal Research, CAS |
| April 1999-Present | Leader, MPG (Max-Planck Society, Germany) C CAS Partner Group on materials science |
| Jan. 1993-Present | Professor, Institute of Metal Research, CAS |
| Nov.1990-Dec.1992 | Associate professor, Institute of Metal Research, CAS |
| Jan.1990-Oct. 1991 | Assistant research professor, Institute of Metal Research, CAS |
| Sept.1991-Mar.1993 | Visiting scientist, Max-Planck-Institut fr Metallforschung (Stuttgart) |
Oct. 1994-Mar.1995 | Visiting Professor, Max-Planck-Institut fr Metallforschung (Stuttgart) |
Mar. -July 1996 | Visiting Professor, Dept. Materials Science & Engineering University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA) |
| Nov-Dec., 1997 | Visiting Professor, National University of Singapore (Singapore) |
| August, 1999 | Visiting Professor, University of Technology of Troyes (France) |
| Mar.-June, 2000 | Visiting Professor, City University of Hong Kong |
Service for Academic Journals
| 2006-present | Reviewing Editor, Science (AAAS) |
| 2004-present | Editor, Scripta Materialia (Acta Materialia Inc.) |
| 2007-present | Member of Editorial Committee, Annual Review of Materials Research |
| 2002-present | Vice-Chairman, Editorial Committee |
| 2000-present | Advisory Board Member |
| 2000-present | Scientific Advisory Board Member |
| 1997-present | Editorial Advisory Board Member |
| 1997-1999 | Associate Editor Nanostructured Materials (Acta Metallurgica Inc.) |
| 1996-present | Editorial Board Member |
Professional Societies
| 1998-present | Member (2008-2011: Chairman), International Committee on Nanostructured Materials |
| 2002-present | Vice Chairman, The Chinese Society of Metals (CSM) |
| 2003-present | Vice President, Chinese Materials Research Society (C-MRS) |
| 1998-present | Member, The Asia-Pacific Academy of Materials (APAM) |
| 1995-present | International Advisory Committee Member |
| 2003-present | International Advisory Committee Member, International Conference on Rapidly Quenched & Metastable Materials (RQ) |
| 1994-present | Member, TMS (USA) |
| 2000-present | Member, MRS (USA) |
Honors and Awards
- 2005 Member of The German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina (elected)
- 2004 Member of The Third World Academy of Sciences (elected)
- 2003 Member of Chinese Academy of Sciences (elected)
- 2006 THERMEC Distinguished Award (Canada)
- 2002 Hasiguti Foundation Prize
- 2000 The Third World Academy TWNSO Technology Prize
- 2000 SCI Citation Classic Award (ISI, USA)
- 1999 Ho-Leung-Ho-Lee Technology Science Award (Hong Kong)
- 1999 Shenyang Science and Technology Zhenxing Award
- 1998 ISMANAM98 Gold Medal and Junior Scientist Award (Australia)
- 1997 National Nature Science Award
- 1996 CAS Nature Science Award
- 1996 The Distinguished Young Scientists Award of China
- 1995 Qiushi Distinguished Young Scientist Award (Hong Kong)
- 1993 CAS Nature Science Award
- 1992 Youth Science & Technology Award of China
- 1991 Distinguished Young Scientists Award of CAS
- 1990 The Best Paper Award of the Chinese Association of Metals
Publications, Patents, and Invitied Talks
- Authored and co-authored 305 international peer-reviewed journal papers (Publication List)
- Held 25 patents (Patent List)
- Presented 51 invited lectures at international conferences and symposia (Invited Presentation List).
Ten 10 Representative Publications
- K. LU
Nanocrystalline materials crystallized from amorphous solids: Nanocrystallization, structure, and properties (Invited review article)
Materials Science & Engineering R: Reports, 16, (1996), 161-221. - Q.S. MEI, K. LU
Melting and superheating of crystalline solids: From bulk to nanocrystals (Invited review article)
Progress in Materials Science, 52 (2007) 1175-1262. - L. LU, M.L. SUI, K. LU
Superplastic extensibility of nanocrystalline copper at room temperature
Science, 287, (2000), 1463-1466. - W.P. Tong, N.R. Tao, Z.B. Wang, J. Lu, K. Lu
Nitriding iron at lower-temperatures
Science, 299, (2003) 686-688. - L. Lu, Y.F. Shen, X.H. CHEN, L.H. QIAN, K. Lu
Ultrahigh strength and high electrical conductivity in copper
Science, 304, (2004) 422-426. - K. LU, Y. LI
Homogeneous nucleation catastrophe as a kinetic stability limit for superheated crystal
Physical Review Letters, 80, (1998), 4474-4477. - L. ZHANG, Z.H. JIN, L.H. ZHANG, M.L. SUI, K. LU
Superheating of confined Pb thin films
Physical Review Letters, 85, (2000), 1484-1487. - Z.H. Jin, P. Gumbsch, K. Lu, E. Ma
Melting mechanisms at the limit of superheating
Physical Review Letters, 87, 5 (2001) 5703 - N.R. Tao, Z.B. Wang, W.P. Tong, M.L. Sui, J. LU, K. Lu
An investigation of surface nanocrystallization mechanism in Fe induced by surface mechanical attrition treatment
Acta Materialia, 50 (2002) 4603-4616 - K. LU, J.T. WANG, W.D. WEI
A new method for synthesizing nanocrystalline alloys
Journal of Applied Physics, 69, (1991), 522-524.
