Frederick F. Lange

Address:flange@engineering.ucsb.edu

Rank: Professor

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Education: Rutgers University, B. S., Ceramics, 1961 Pennsylvania State University, Ph.D., Solid State Technology, 1965

Academic: Professor, UCSB, Materials Dept. and Dept. of Chem. Eng. (1986- pres.) Positions Adjunct Professor, UCLA, Dept. of Mat. Sci. & Eng. (1979-1986)

Industrial: MTS, Manager, Principal Scientist, Structural Ceramics Group, Positions Rockwell International Science Center (1976-1986) Senior Scientist, Fellow Scientist, Materials Department, Westinghouse Research Laboratories (1967-1976)

Awards and Honors
1997  Max Planck Research Award  Max Planck Society, Germany
1996  Centennial Fellow Award  Pennsylvania State Univ.
1993  Humboldt Senior Fellow  German Government
1993  Memorial Lecture  Purdue University Engineering
1992  National Academy of Engineering  USA
1992  Distinguished Dow Lecturer  Northwestern University
1991  Academy of Ceramics  (International)
1989  Kraner Award  American Ceramic Society
1988  John Jeppson Award  American Ceramic Society
1987  Sosman Memorial Lecture  Am. Ceram. Soc., Basic Sci. Divi. Award
1983  Jubilee Professor  Chalmers University (Sweden)
1982  Richard M. Fulrath Award  Joint Jap./Am. Ceram. Soc., N. Cal. Div.
1982  Ross Coffin Purdy Award  American Ceramic Society, Best Paper
1980  Rockwell Engineer of the Year   Rockwell International Incorporated
1978  Elected Chair-person Gordon Research Conference 
(for Conference held in 1980)
1974  Fellow American Ceramic Society

Brief Bio: Professor Lange received his Ph.D. degree in Solid State Technology at Pennsylvania State University in 1965. Subsequently, he has worked at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Research Establishment (to 1967), at the Westinghouse Research Laboratory as a Fellow Scientist (to 1976) and at Rockwell International Science Center as Group Manager and Principal Scientist (to 1986). At Rockwell International, he was named Engineer of the Year (1980) for his work on the Space Shuttle Tile Problem. He joined the UCSB faculty in 1986 with a joint appointment as Professor of Materials, and Professor of Chemical Engineering. His research concerns interrelations between processing, phase relations, microstructure and properties leading to either new or improved structural ceramics and their composites. Lange's principal contributions have been in the processing of ceramic microstructures that produce higher crack growth resistance, and colloidal powder processing methods leading to improved processing reliability by minimizing flaw populations. More recently, Lange's research has emphasized processing and properties of continuous fiber reinforced ceramics and single crystal thin films processed from solutions. His research has resulted in awards from the American Ceramic Society that include: Fellow (1974), Ross Coffin Purdy Award (1982), Richard M. Fulrath Award (1982), Kraner Award (1989), John Jeppson Award (1988), and Sosman Memorial Lecturer (1987). In 1991 he was elected a member of the Academy of Ceramics, an international organization, and in 1992 he was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in the USA and was awarded a Humboldt Senior Fellow (1993), and he was presented the 1997 Max-Planck Research Award. Professor Lange is a co-author of more than 255 papers and 20 patents.

My current research interests fall into three areas:

Solution Processing Routes to Single Crystal Films:

Two solution routes can be used to synthesize single crystal thin films. In the first, solutions containing metal-organic molecules (or complexed, inorganic salts) evaporate to a solid precursor and then decompose to an inorganic material during heating. These solutions can be used to spin-coat single crystal substrates. A partially dense, polycrystalline film forms first because the decomposition temperature is so low relative to the inorganic's melting temperature, the size of the critical nuclei require for spontaneous crystallization is much smaller than the film thickness. The simplest phenomena that converts the polycrystalline film into a single crystal is epitaxial grain growth: nano-crystallites with the same orientation as the substrate form at the substrate-film interface during decomposition, grow across the interface and through to the surface after the film becomes sufficiently dense to support grain growth. This mechanism is observed when the film and substrate structures are identical, and the lattice mismatch is small. When either the mismatch is large or the film and substrate structures are not similar, more complicated phenomena are observe, e.g., concurrent abnormal grain growth and thin film instability.

In the second, it is well know that oxides, nitrides, sulfides, etc, powders can be directly synthesized in a liquid. Approximately 3 years ago we discovered that single crystal thin films could be produced by placing a substrate into the same solution usually used to synthesize powder. For example, we have grown epitaxial films of BaTiO3, (Ba,Pb)TiO3, PbTiO3, PZT, and (K,Na)NbO3 on SrTiO3 single crystal substrates in water at temperatures <= 150 deg.C . Although the soluble ions are certainly mobile, we have shown that the epitaxy phenomenon initiates via island nucleation, then coalescence-even when the lattice mismatch approaches zero. In addition, because of pH requirements for synthesis, the surface of the substrate is blanketed by a dense layer of counterions because of the high surface charge density and the high concentration of soluble reactants. This 'blanket' of concentrated counterions effects the growth morphology of the film, as well as the morphology of particles that are concurrently synthesized.

F. F. Lange, "Chemical Solution Routes to Single-Crsytal Thin Films," Science, 
    273 [5277] 903-9 (1996).

P.A. Langjahr, T. Wagner, F.F. Lange, and M. Rühle, "Epitaxial Growth and
    Structure of Highly Mismatched Oxide Films with Rock-Salt Sturcture on
    MgO," Thin Films - Structure and Morphology. Symposium, Ed. by: Moss, S.C.;
    Ila, D.; Cammarata, R.C.; Chason, E.H.; and others, Mater. Res. Soc, p. 193-8,
    (1997).

T. A. Derouin, C.D.E. Lakeman, X.H. Wu, J. S. Speck, and F. F. Lange, "Effect of
    Lattice Mismatch on the Epitaxy of Sol-Gel LiNbO3 Thin Films," J. Mat. Res.
    12 [5] 1391-1400 (1997).

Yin Xia, Nobuya Machida, Zuehua Wu, Charles Lakeman, Leo van Wüllen, Fred
    Lange, Carlos Levi and Hellumut Echert, "7Li and 6Li Solid State NMR Studies
    of Structure and Dynamics in LiNbO3-WO3 Solid Solution," J. Phys. Chem. B
    101 9180-7 (1997).

A.T. Chien, J.S. Speck, and F.F. Lange, "Hydrothermal Heteroepitaxial of
    Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3 at 90-150 deg.C" J. Mat. Res. 12 [5] 1176--8 (1997).

D. Heimann, T. Wagner, J. Bill, F. Aldinger and F. F. Lange, "Epitaxial Growth of
    Beta-SiC Thin Films on a 6H-SiC Substrate Using the Solution Precursor
    Method," J. Mat. Res. 12 [11] 3099-3101 (1997).

A. Seifert, A. Vojta, J. S. Speck, and F. F. Lange, "Microstructural Instability in
    Single-Crystal Thin Films," J. Mater. Res. 11 [6] 1470-82 (1996).

A. Chien, J.S. Speck, F.F. Lange, A. Daykin, and C.G. Levi, "Low Temperature/Low
    Pressure Hydrothermal Synthesis of Barium Titanate: Powder and
    Heteroepitaxial Thin Films," J. Mat. Res. 10 [7] 1784-9 (1995).

Andreas Seifert, Fred F. Lange and James S. Speck, "Epitaxial Growth of PbTiO3
    Thin Films on (001) SrTiO3 from Solution Precursors," J. Mat. Res. 10 [3]
    680-91 (1995).

Colloidal Routes to the Powder Processing of Ceramics:

Like atoms, potentials (attractive and repulsive) exist between particles. The attractive van der Waals (vdw) potential always exits. Either short- or long-range repulsive potentials can be developed either by changing the chemistry of the liquid in which the particles reside, or by adsorbing short or long molecules on the surface of each particle. In general, 3 different particle networks can be formed: attractive and touching networks (only vdw potential), strongly repulsive networks (vdw + long range repulsion, eg. long, adsorbed molecules), and weakly attractive, but non-touching networks (vdw + short-range repulsion). Conceptually, it appears that the interparticle potential controls nearly everything including particle packing, the mechanical properties (rheology) of the particle liquid system, plastic or brittle behavior of consolidated and saturated powder compacts. The details of how this control is exerted is the subject of current research. The understanding of how interparticle potentials control these and other properties is necessary to develop advance forming technologies and reliable, engineering components.

George V. Franks, Miroslav Colic, Matthew L. Fisher and Fred F. Lange,
    "Plastic-to-Brittle Transition of Consolidated Bodies: Effect of Counterion
    Size," J. Colloid and Interface Sci. 193 96-103 (1997).

M. Colic, G.V. Franks, M. Fisher, and F.F. Lange, "Effect of Counterion Size on
    Short Range Repulsive Forces at High Ionic Strength," Langmuir, 13 [12]
    3129-35 (1997).

W. A. Ducker, E.P. Luther, D.R. Clarke and F. F. Lange, "Effect of Zwitterionic
    Surfactants on Interparticle Forces, Rheology and Particle Packing of Silicon
    Nitride Slurries," J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 80 [3]575-83 (1997).

George V. Franks, Bhaskar V. Velamakanni, and Fred F. Lange, "VibraForming
    and In-situ Flocculation of Consolidate, Coagulated Alumina Slurries,"
    J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 78 [5] 1324-28 (1995).

Erik P. Luther, Fred F. Lange and Dale S. Pearson, "Alumina' Surface
    Modification of Silicon Nitride for Colloidal Processing," J. Am. Ceram. Soc.
    78 [8] 2009-14 (1995).

Processing and Properties Ceramic Composites:

Ceramic fibers are strong simply because their diameter is small, which limits the size of their strength limiting flaw. When incorporated into a ceramic matrix, the strong fibers must be 'isolated' from cracks that propagate through the matrix. This is accomplished by phenomena that cause matrix cracks to deflect and propagate around the fibers, so that the fibers 'bridge' the fractured portions of the matrix to produce a high-strain-to-failure, damage-tolerant, high-temperature material. Achieving and understanding phenomena that produce crack deflection is a subject of current research which involves a close and iterative relation between processing, microstructural characterization and mechanical property determinations. This subject is not limited to fiber reinforced materials, but also involves laminar composites without fibers. Here, crack deflection is designed to occur at the interface (or interphase) between layers. The analogies between fiber and laminar composites are synergistic to our understanding of the crack deflection phenomena.

W. A. Cutler, F.W. Zok and F.F. Lange, "Delamination Resistance of Hybrid
    Ceramic Composites Laminates," J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 80 [12] 3029-37, 1997.

Olivier Sudre and F. F. Lange, "Effect of Matrix Grain Growth Kinetics on
    Composite Denisfication ," J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 80 [3] 800-2 (1997).

Willard A. Cutler, Frank W. Zok, and F. F. Lange, "Mechanical Behavior of
    Several hybrid Ceramic-Matrix-Composite Laminates," J. Am. Ceram. Soc.
    79 [7] 1825-33 (1996).

Matthias Oechsner, C. Hillman, and F. F. Lange, "Crack Bifurcation in Laminar
    Ceramic Composites," J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 79 [7] 1834-38 (1996).

C. Hillman, Z. Suo, and F.F. Lange, "Cracking of Laminates Subjected to Biaxial
    Tensile Strains," J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 79 [8] 2127-2133 (1996).

Paul Honeyman-Colvin and Fred F. Lange, "Infiltration of Porous Alumina
    Bodies with Solution Precursors: Strengthening via compositional Grading,
    Grain Size Control and Transformation Toughening," J. Amer. Ceram. Soc.
    79 [7] 1810-14 (1996).