Directory profile for Dr. Qiaofu Zhang

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. He was selected as a fellow of Scialog: Sustainable Minerals, Metals, and Materials (SM3) 2024-2026.

Research topics in Zhang’s Research Lab includes:

1. ICME modeling to link materials’ process-structure-property relations using Calphad-based microstructural models and physical-based property models;
2. Developing new materials using ICME-based materials design approach;
3. Advanced manufacturing;
4. 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.