The University of British Columbia

Materials Engineering: My Perspective

My fascination with materials and their behaviour started early. As a kid I was naturally drawn to science, specifically to the behaviour of materials. I was intrigued, for instance, by news of new high temperature superconductors in the late 1980's. Their potential for changing the world around us seemed extrodinary based on newspaper articles of the time. This led me to my first (failed!) experiment in materials engineering. For my grade 12 chemistry term project I attempted to produce my own high temperature superconductor "puck" by sintering of ceramic powders. Looking back, the fact that I attempted to do this by borrowing the kiln of the local potter (I grew up in a small town...) explains the results!

Upon entering undergraduate studies at McMaster, I found myself drawn to Materials Science and Engineering. This led to a growing interest in the relationship between the structure of materials (atomic structure, micro-structure) and their properties. In particular our ability to manipulate the structure of materials at the smallest of scales as a means of controlling the behaviour at the largest of scales fascinated me. Upon graduation, I decided to do a masters degree swearing that I would never do a Ph.D. I transfered the following year to the Ph.D. program. Upon finishing my Ph.D. I spent a fantastic year doing research on stainless steels (...and wine and cheese and bread...) in France returning to Canada the following year to take up a position as Assistant Professor at UBC. From UBC I continue to have strong interations with my Euopean colleagues in France, Belgium and Germany. I regularly spend time in Europe, including an extended research leave in 2009-2010 at The Universite Cathoique de Louvain and the Universite Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium.

The Department of Materials Engineering at UBC is a unique place with a rich history and strong tradition of excellence. The faculty and staff are at the top of the Materials Engineering discipline and the students are terrific (...well, at least when they are not purchasing apple pies for me!). This is a place where, I believe, creativity is encouraged, ideas are developed and opportunities are created!

Links of General Interest

• Short article from the 2006 issue of Ingenuity
• Article written for UBC Reports in 2008 -- picked up by a number of news sources (including the Globe and Mail)

Research Interests

• Mechanical and Functional Properties of Materials
• Physical Metallurgy
• Modelling and Simulation
• Materials Characterization

Refereed Journal

1. C. W. Sinclair, M. Perez, R. G. A. Veiga, A. Weck, Molecular dynamics study of the ordering of carbon in highly supersaturated alpha –Fe, Physical Review B, Accepted for Publication, April 2010.
2. J. Jain, W. J. Poole, C. W. Sinclair, M. Gharghouri, Reducing the tension-compression yield asymmetry in a Mg-8Al-0.5Zn alloy via precipitation, Scripta Mater., 62(2010): 301
3. R. Roumina, C. W. Sinclair, Recovery kinetics in the presence of precipitates: The softening response of an Al-Mg-Sc alloy, Acta Mater., 58(2010)111.
4. J. D. Teixeira, L. Bourgeois, C. W. Sinclair, C. R. Hutchinson, The effect of shear-resistant, plate-shaped precipitates on the work hardening of Al alloys: Towards a prediction of the strength-elongation correlation, Acta Mater., 57(2009)6075.
5. B. Raeisinia, C. W. Sinclair, A representative grain size for the mechanical response of polycrystals, Mater. Sci. Eng., 525A(2009)78.
6. C. W. Sinclair and R. G. Hoagland. A molecular dynamics study of the fcc - bcc transformation at fault intersections. Acta Mater., 56(2008):4160.
7. F. Fazeli, C. W. Sinclair, and T. Bastow. The role of excess vacancies on precipitation kinetics in an Al- Mg-Sc alloy. Metall. Mater. Trans., 39A(2008):1543.
8. C. R. Hutchinson, H. S. Zurob, C. W. Sinclair, and Y. J. M. Brechét. The comparative effectiveness of Nb solute and NbC precipitates at impeding grain-boundary motion in Nb steels. Scripta Mater., 59(2008):635.
9. R. Roumina and C. W. Sinclair. Deformation geometry and through-thicknesss gradients in asymmetric rolling. Metall. Mater. Trans., 39A(2008):2495.
10. B. Raeisinia, C. W. Sinclair, W. J. Poole, and C. N. Tomé. On the impact of grain size distribution on plastic behaviour of polycrystalline metals. Modelling Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng.,16(2008). doi:10.1088/0965- 0393/16/2/025001. Selected as a 2008 Highlight article for Modelling Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng.
11. F. Fazeli, W. J. Poole, and C. W. Sinclair. Modeling the effect of Al3Sc precipitates on the yield stress and work hardening of an Al-Mg-Sc alloy. Acta Mater., 56(2008):1909.
12. C. W. Sinclair. Embedded grain rotation and roping in stainless steels. Metall. Mater. Trans., 38A(2007):2435. doi:10.1007/s11661-007-9305-4.
13. C.W. Sinclair, C.R. Hutchinson, Y. Bréchet. The effect of Nb on the recrystallization and grain growth of ultra-high-purity α-fe: A combinatorial approach. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A: Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science, 38(4):821-830, 2007.
14. Y. J. M. Bréchet, C. R. Hutchinson, H. S. Zurob, C. W. Sinclair. Effect of Nb on ferrite recrystallitzation and austenite decomposition in microalloyed steels. Steel Research International, 78(3):210-215, 2007.
15. C.W. Sinclair, G. Saada, J.D. Embury. Role of internal stresses in co-deformed two-phase materials. Philosophical Magazine, 86(25):4081-4098, 2006. Invited Paper: Issue Celebrating the career in crystal plasticity of F. R. N. Nabarro, FRS
16. C.W. Sinclair, W.J. Poole, Y. Bréchet. A model for the grain size dependent work hardening of copper. Scripta Materialia, 55(8):739-742, 2006.

Refereed Conference

1. D. Marechal, C. W. Sinclair, J.-D. Mithieux, V. Kostoj, Microstructure and Microtexture as a Function of Grain Size in a 301LN Stainless Steel, Proceedings of AIST Steel Properties & Applications Conference Combined with MS&T’09 Materials Science and Technology 2009, pp. 201-210.
2. C. W. Sinclair, A molecular dynamics study of deformation induced phase transformations at fault bands, 15th International Conference on the Strength of Materials, 2009
3. J. X. Zou, C. W. Sinclair, F. Wagner, The Relationship Between Microstructure, Texture and Static Recrystallization in Uniaxially Compressed Magnesium, Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Magnesium and its Alloys, pp. 233-248, 2009
4. J. Jain, W.J. Poole, C.W. Sinclair, C. Necker, Study of deformation and annealing textures in symmetrically and asymmetrically cold rolled AZ80 magnesium alloy, Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Magnesium and its Alloys, 2009
5. R. Roumina and C. W. Sinclair. Effect of recovery on the tensile response of an al-mg-sc alloy. In Aluminum Alloys, Their Physical and Mechanical Properties: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Aluminum Alloys, 2008: pp. 1443–1448. Awarded ICAA11 Best Young Researcher, R. Roumina
6. J. da Costa Teixeira, L. Bourgeois, C. W. Sinclair, and C. R. Hutchinson. The influence of plate-shaped, shear-resistant precipitates on teh work hardening of Al-Cu based alloys: Development of a quantitative description of the σy/εu correlation. In Aluminum Alloys, Their Physical and Mechanical Properties: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Aluminum Alloys, 2008: pp. 1606–1612.
7. J. da Costa Teixeira, L. Bourgeois, C. W. Sinclair, and C. R. Hutchinson. Experimental investigation of isotropic and kinematic hardening in Al-3Cu-0.05Sn (wt%). Mater. Sci. For., 561-565(2008):1849. Selected, peer reviewed papers from The Sixth Pacific Rim International Conference On Advanced Materials and Processing, November 5-9, 2007, ICC Jeju, Jeju Island, Korea
8. C. R. Hutchinson, H. S. Zurob, C. W. Sinclair, and Y. J. M. Bréchet. The comparative effectiveness of Nb solute and NbC precipitates at impeding grain boundary motion in Nb steels.Mater. Sci. For., 561- 565(2008):53. The Sixth Pacific Rim International Conference On Advanced Materials and Processing, November 5-9, 2007, ICC Jeju, Jeju Island, Korea
9. H. Azizi-Alizamini, C. W. Sinclair, M. Militzer, J.-D. Mithieux, Microstructure refinement of a low interstitial ferritic stainless steel by cold rolling and annealing of martensite, Materials Science Forum, Volume 558- 559, Pages 113-118, 2006. Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Recrystallization and Grain Growth, ReX & GG III, held in Jeju Island, Korea, June 10-15, 2007
10. C. W. Sinclair, H. Proudhon, J.-D. Mithieux, Work hardening in a fine grained austenitic stainless steel, Materials Science Forum, Volume 539-543, 4714-4719, 2007. THERMEC 2006, 5th International Conference on Processing & Manufacturing of Advanced Materials, July 4-8, 2006, Vancouver Canada
11. R. Roumina, C. W. Sinclair, F. Fazeli, Precipitation and recrystallization in an Al-Mg-Sc ally, Materials Science Forum, Volume 519-521, Pages 961-966, 2006. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Aluminum Alloys, Vancouver, Canada, July 9-13, 2006
12. F. Fazeli, W. J. Poole, C. W. Sinclair, Work hardening behaviour of an Al-2.8Mg-0.16Sc alloy, Materials Science Forum, Volume 519-521, Pages 1647-1652, 2006 Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Aluminum Alloys, Vancouver, Canada, July 9-13, 2006

Conference

1. J. X. Zou, J. Jain, and C. W. Sinclair. Tracing nucleation and grain growth during static recrystallization of pure Mg by ebsd. In M. O. Pekguleryuz, N. R. Neelameggham, R. S. Beals, and E. A. Nyberg, eds., Magnesium Technology 2008, 2008: TMS Spring Meeting 2008. New Orleans, LA, United States. March 2008
2. J. Jain, W. J. Poole, and C. W. Sinclair. Study of deformation modes in AZ80 magnesium alloy. In M. O. Pekguleryuz, N. R. Neelameggham, R. S. Beals, and E. A. Nyberg, eds., Magnesium Technology 2008, 2008: TMS Spring Meeting 2008. New Orleans, LA, United States. March 2008.
3. J. Jain, W.J. Poole, C.W. Sinclair. A study on the static recrystallization of cold rolled magnesium alloy AZ80. in: Proceedings of Magnesium Technology 2006: Wrought Alloys and Forming Processes I, TMS Magnesium Technology 2006, San Antonio, TX, United States, 2006 , Pages 147-152.
4. C. W. Sinclair, M. J. Killick, On the role of internal stresses in the strengthening of co-deformed twophase composite materials, in: Proceedings of the Canadian International Conference on Composite Materials (CANCOM) 2005, Vancouver BC, Canada Aug. 2005, Pages 121-1 – 121-9.