- 1020 North Engineering Research Center
- Phone (205) 348-4971
- Faculty Website
Dr. Qiaofu Zhang
Assistant Professor
Contact
- 1020 North Engineering Research Center
- phone (205) 348-4971
- Faculty Website
Research Areas
Education
- Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering, the Ohio State University, 2017
- M.S. Materials Science and Engineering, the Ohio State University, 2012
- B.S. Applied Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, 2010
Dr. Qiaofu Zhang joined the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering (MTE) at The University of Alabama as an assistant professor in August 2023. He had his PhD from the Ohio State University in 2017, with research on thermodynamics, kinetics and precipitation modeling and high throughput experiments. Shortly after that, Dr. Zhang joined QuesTek Innovations LLC, a small business located at Evanston, IL, but also a global leader in Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) and ICME-based materials design. He was a materials design engineering and later a senior materials design engineer at QuesTek Innovations LLC before joining the University of Alabama. Dr. Zhang also served as an associate editor for Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance since 2025. He was selected as a fellow of Scialog: Sustainable Minerals, Metals, and Materials (SM3) 2024-2026.
Research topics in Zhang’s Research Lab includes: ICME modeling to link materials’ process-structure-property relations using Calphad-based microstructural models and physical-based property models; Developing new materials using ICME-based materials design approach; Advanced manufacturing; High-throughput methods for materials informatics. Materials of interests varies from Ni-based superalloys, Al-alloys, Cu-alloys, Steels, and ceramic-metal composites, with specific engineering applications in industry.
Affiliated Areas
Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
Selected Publications
- Gaddam, Supreeth, Surekha Yadav, Amit Kishan Behera, Noriaki Arai, Zaynab Mahbooba, Shikhar Krishn Jha, Qiaofu Zhang, and Rajiv S. Mishra. “Thermodynamics guided design and processing of a WC/HEA cermet tool for high temperature friction stir welding.” Materials & Design 250 (2025): 113618.
- Wang, Tianhao, Zexi Lu, Qiaofu Zhang, Abhinav Saboo, Xiaolong Ma, Tingkun Liu, Zaynab Mahbooba et al. “High-temperature lean Cu alloys with Cr-to-Nb atomic ratio of 2.” Materials Today Communications 39 (2024): 108884.
- Yadav, Surekha, Qiaofu Zhang, Priyanshi Agrawal, Ravi Sankar Haridas, Christopher Morphew, Amit Behera, Zaynab Mahbooba, Jiadong Gong, and Rajiv S. Mishra. “Effect of ceramic-binder interface on the mechanical properties of TiB2-HEA composites.” Materials Science and Engineering: A 857 (2022): 144059.
- Zhao, Yunhao, Liangyan Hao, Qiaofu Zhang, and Wei Xiong. “Phase transformations during continuous cooling in Inconel 718 alloys manufactured by laser powder bed fusion and suction casting.” Materials Characterization 185 (2022): 111764.
- Zhong, Wei, Qiaofu Zhang, and Ji-Cheng Zhao. “A simple yet general model of binary diffusion coefficients emerged from a comprehensive assessment of 18 binary systems.” Acta Materialia 215 (2021): 117077.
Awards and Honors
- Fellow of Scialog: Sustainable Minerals, Metals, and Materials (SM3) 2024-2026.
- 1st Awardee in Challenge 3: Macro-scale Structure-to-Properties Predictions, Additive Manufacturing Modeling Challenge Series by America Makes and Air Force Research Laboratory (2020).
- 1st Place in Macroscale Tensile Tests at Different Orientations (CHAL-AMB2022-04-MaTTO ), “Best modeling results predicting Macroscale tensile behavior of as-built IN625 specimens at different orientations”, Additive Manufacturing Benchmarks 2022 by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) (2022).
Dr. Zhang's Impact
6 College of Engineering Students Awarded Alabama Space Grant Consortium Scholarships and Fellowships
The Alabama Space Grant Consortium has awarded four undergraduate scholarships and two graduate fellowships to students in The University of Alabama College of Engineering. The four undergraduate recipients are Rianna...