Chain T. Liu

  • Title: Distinguished Research Chair Professor
  • E-Mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Education:

    Ph.D., Brown University, 1967

  • Research Summary:

    Physical metallurgy and mechanical behavior of metals, alloys, nanostructure materials, intermetallic compounds and bulk amorphous alloys; microstructure and phase transformation; gas-metal interactions; alloy design of high-temperature structural materials, precious metal alloys, shape memory alloys, hydrogen storage alloys, metal-matrix composites; environmental effects on ductility and fracture of metals and alloys; innovative material processing

  • Research Topics:


  • Main experience:

    ◆2009-present Distinguished Professor, Materials Engineering, Auburn University
    ◆2009-present Chair Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
    ◆2008-present Adjunct Professor, Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, March 2008
    ◆2006-2008 Professor and Distinguished Research Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee
    ◆2005-2006 Distinguished Research Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee
    ◆1997-2005 Senior Corporate Fellow, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation
    ◆1985-1997 Corporate Fellow, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc.
    ◆1983-2005 Group Leader, Alloying Behavior and Design Group, Metals and Ceramics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    ◆1967-1983 Research Staff Member/Senior Research Staff member, Metals and Ceramics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    ◆1965-1966 The Corinna Borden Research Fellowship
    ◆1962-1966 Teaching Assistant at Brown University, USA Subject Taught: Structure and Properties of Solids

  • Awards:

    ◆2010 — Invited to serve as a reviewer of the Frontier and Innovative Research Project of National Taiwan University (NTU) from March 2010 to June 2010 by NTU President. 
    ◆2009 — R&D 100 Award for Development of Alumina-Forming Austenitic Stainless Steel, July, 2009
    ◆2008 — 2007 National Award for International Scientific and Technological Cooperation sponsored by National Office for Science and Technology Awards, P. R. China, June 5, 2008
    ◆2008 — Appointed as Adjunct Professor, World Premier International Research Center, Tohoku University, March 2008.
    ◆2007 — Appointed as Visiting Chair Professor, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, October 2007.
    ◆2007 — Awarded with Honorary Member of Japan Institute for Metals, March 23, 2007.
    ◆2006 — Appointed as the Chairman of the Editors Board, Journal of Intermetallics
    ◆2006 — Appointed Honorary Distinguished Professor of Sichuan University, China
    ◆2006 — Received a National Friendship Award from the Office of Foreign Affairs, Chinese State Council, September 30, 2006
    ◆2005 — Elected as a Foreign Member of Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) (similar to Foreign Member of NAE in USA), October 25, 2005
    ◆2005 — Award of Excellence in recognition of promotion of research and development of Intermetallics in China and outstanding contributions in the field of materials science and technology, jointly by Chinese Materials Research Society (C-MRS) and the 6th International Workshop on Advanced Intermetallic and Metallic Materials, October 15, 2005 
    ◆2005 — The Albert Sauveur Achievement Award Selection Committee, Committee Member, ASM
    ◆2005 — Appointed as a Governor of the Acta Materialia Board to represent ASM 
    ◆2005 — The paper “A new glass-forming ability criterion for bulk metallic glasses” published in Acta Mater. 50, (2002) 3501-12 by ZP Lu and CT Liu was identified by ISI to be one of the most cited recent papers in the field of materials science, April 15, 2005
    ◆2005 — Research on structural amorphous steels (published in PRL 92, 245503-1 to -4, 2004) by ZP Lu , CT Liu, JR Thompson and WD Porter was selected as one of the Top Physics Stories in 2004 by APL, March 2005
    ◆2004 — 2004 Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Science and Technology, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, October 29, 2004.
    ◆2004 — Elected as a member of National Academy of Engineering (NAE) USA, February 2004
    ◆2004 — appointed as Honorary Professor at Central South University, Changsha, China in August 2004
    ◆2004 — appointed as Honorary Professor at Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing China March, 2004
    ◆2003 — Elected as a Fellow of the World Technology Network, June 2003
    ◆2003 — Identified as a World Highly Cited Researcher in Materials Science by ISI in the materials fields during the past 20 years, March 2003
    ◆2003 — Selected as a Distinguished Inventor of Battelle Memorial Institute
    ◆2003 — A TMS Symposium “Intermetallics and Advanced Metallic Materials’ was held in his honor of CT Liu’s life-time achievement in materials science and engineering, March 2003
    ◆2002 — Served on the Committee of Vistors (C0V) to review the performance of the Division of Materials Research of NSF
    ◆2002 — Serve on the External Advisory Board of the Materials Preparation Center, Ames Laboratory in 2002-2003
    ◆2002 — Served on the Materials Technology Advisory Committee, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan
    ◆2002 — Serve on the International Advisory Committee of Shanyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, China
    ◆2001 — The 2001 Acta Metallurgica Gold Medal, February, 2001“for his leadership and outstanding achievements in science and technology of ordered intermetallic alloys”
    ◆2001 — Received appreciation letter from DOE Secretary Bill Richardson for “Congratulations to you and your team for being part of the remarkable list of 100 examples of our finest scientific accomplishments known as The Energy 100”
    ◆2001 — Identified as an author in the list of 1000 Most Cited Physicists during 1981- June, 1997 by ISI
    ◆2000 — Received Distinguished Award from THERMEC’2000 Conference for “innovative and outstanding contributions in the field of intermetallic materials”
    ◆2000 — Appointed as a member of the Editorial Board for Journal of University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
    ◆2000 — Invited to serve as a member to the Engineering Materials Achievement Award Committe, ASM
    ◆2000 — Served as a member of the International Advisory committee, THERMEC’2000 Conference, December 4-7, 2000, Las Vegas, NV
    ◆1999 — Committee member for the evaluation of research papers for the new Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization Grant, Japan
    ◆1999 — Member of the Materials Technology Advisory Committee (MTAC) at Materials Research Laboratory, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan (1999-2000)
    ◆1998 — Winner of the 1998 Sustained Outstanding Research Award in the Metals and Ceramics Sciences in the DOE 1998 Materials Science Research Competition
    ◆1998 — Received a Brown Engineering Alumni Medal Award, Brown University, May 1998
    ◆1998 — Appointed Chairman, ASM/TMS Distinguished Lecture in Materials & Society Selection Committee, February 1998
    ◆1998 — Appointed Chairman, TMS Fellow Award Committee, February, 1998
    ◆1997 — Senior Corporate Fellow, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, May 1997
    ◆1997 — An editor of J. the Chinese Institute of Engineers
    ◆1997 — Appointed as a Honorable Professor, Beijing University of Science and Technology, Beijing, China, April 1997
    ◆1997 — Received a Best Paper Award from Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation, 1997
    ◆1997 — Appointed as a Honorable Visiting Professor at the Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, September 1997.
    ◆1996 — Received the Institute 1996 Best Paper Award in the category of Mechanical Behavior and Mechanical Characterization of Materials (with Y. Mishima and E. H. Lee) from Japan Institute of Metals (JIM), September, 1996
    ◆1996 — Selected as an external reviewer for the Ames Laboratory Materials Sciences Program, Ames Laboratory
    ◆1996 — Appointed to NRC Panel on AFOSR Materials Science Proposal Reviews (metals expertise), National Research Council (NRC)
    ◆1996 — LMER Significant Event Award for the study of environmental embrittlement in Ni3Al and other intermetallics
    ◆1996 — ORNL R&D Accomplishment Award for a breakthrough in alloy design of TiAl alloys
    ◆1996 — Appointed as an Advisory Professor by the Shanghai Jiao-Tong University, Shanghai, China
    ◆1995 — Fifth in worldwide ranking of highly cited authors publishing high-impact papers in all journals of Materials Science and Metallurgy during 1990-1994 [Science Watch, Vol. 6, No. 9, 1995, Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)]
    ◆1995 — Received the 1995 Buehler Technical Paper Merit Award for the best paper published in the Journal of Materials Characterization (with E. P. George and J. A. Horton from ORNL)
    ◆1995 — Appointed as a Consultant Professor by the Northwestern Polytechnic University, Xian, China
    ◆1995 — Member of the U.S. Materials delegation to China for Bilateral Material Cooperation.
    ◆1994 — Fellow, TMS
    ◆1994 — Member of the International Advisory Board, Journal of Materials Science and Technology
    ◆1994 — NRC member of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Materials Science Review Panel, National Research Council (NRC)
    ◆1994 — Appointed as a member of Academic Committee of Advanced Metal Materials State Key Laboratory of China, Beijing, China
    ◆1993 — Associate Editor, Materials Letters
    ◆1992 — Golden Acorn Award, The Inventor''''s Forum of MMES
    ◆1992 — Editor, Journal of Intermetallics
    ◆1992 — Member of Technical Advisory Committee, Industrial Technology and Research Institute, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    ◆1991 — Received Outstanding Achievement Award from the Office of Special Applications, DOE
    ◆1991 — Distinguished Lecturer, invited by the National Science Council, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    ◆1991 — Selected as the first scientist to tour through and provide technical guidance for the Japan National Project on High-Temperature Ordered Intermetallics by Japan Ministry of International Trade and Industries (MITI)
    ◆1990 — NSF committee member of site visit to Materials Research Lab (MRL) at MIT
    ◆1990 — DOE Outstanding Achievement Award to the Galileo RTG Team
    ◆1990 — I.R 100 Competition Award for "Ductile Iron Aluminides"
    ◆1990 — Appointed Principal Editor, Journal of Materials Research
    ◆1988 — E. O. Lawrence Award (established by the U.S. President), U.S. Department of Energy
    ◆1988 — Golden Acorn Award, the Inventor''''s Forum, Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc.
    ◆1986 — Special Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer from Federal Laboratory Consortium, May 1986 
    ◆1985 — Corporate Fellow, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc.
    ◆1985 — Recipient of the silver Jefferson Cup, a recognition given each year by Martin Marietta Corporation to a select few employees who have demonstrated excellence and have attained preeminence by virtue of superior performance 
    ◆1985 — Scientist of the Year, Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. 
    ◆1985 — Distinguished Alumni Award, Brown University
    ◆1984 — Fellow, American Society for Metals
    ◆1984 — Winner of the Department of Energy''''s 1984 Materials Sciences Research Competition Award in the Significant Implication for Energy Technology: Metallurgy and Ceramics Category 
    ◆1984 — Spacecrafts Voyage I and II Team Award by JPL/NASA
    ◆1983 — I•R 100 Award for Development of NiFe Aluminides
    ◆1982 — The International Precious Metals Institute''''s Highest Personal Accomplishment Award — The Honorary Platinum Membership 
    ◆1980 — The first recipient of the Henry J. Albert Award for outstanding theoretical or experimental contributions to the metallurgy of precious metals, by the International Precious Metals Institute
    ◆1979 — International Metallographic Exhibit, second place in the Electron-Microscopy-Transmission Class
    ◆1979 — I•R 100 Award for Development of New LRO Alloys
    ◆1977 — Pioneer II Saturn Mission Team Award by NASA
    ◆1977 — ERDA Citation in Recognition of Development of New IR Alloys for Space Power Program
    ◆1975 — Appreciative Letter from Director of SNS/ERDA
    ◆1974 — Pioneer/Jupiter Team Award by NASA