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About the editor and contributors 8
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Jim Low gained his B. Eng (Hons) and PhD degrees in Materials
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Engineering from Monash University prior to taking up lecturer positions
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first at Auckland University and then Curtin University. He won the
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B.H.P, Nylex, and Alcoa prizes during his undergraduate years and was
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awarded a Monash postgraduate research scholarship in 1983. He was
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awarded a Visiting Professorship by the Japanese Ministry of Education
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to work with Prof. Niihara at Osaka University in 1995/1996. He is a
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Fellow of the Australian Ceramic Society and has served on the editorial
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board of the Journal of the Australian Ceramic Society and Journal of
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Ceramics. He is also the recipient of the prestigious 1996 Joint Australian
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Ceramic Society/Ceramic Society of Japan Ceramic Award for excellence
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in ceramics research. Prof. Low has edited 5 books and is author of over
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250 archival research papers. His published work on advanced ceramic
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systems has received in excess of 900 citations with an H-index of 1314
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and 8 citations per article. He has also given several Invited and Keynote
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papers at international conferences. He is the current WA Branch
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President and Federal Secretary of the Australian Ceramic Society. He
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serves as an Oz-Reader (2007) and international Reader (2010) for the
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Australian Research Council (ARC) to review Discovery-Projects,
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Linkage-Projects and Laureate Fellowships proposals. In the period
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2007-2011 he has been Chief Investigator (CI) on one ARC Discovery
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Grant, one ARC Linkage-International grant and named CI on six LIEF
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grants. His research has also been supported by the Australian
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Synchrotron, AINSE and Access to Major Facilities Program.
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Professor Low can be contacted at J.Low@curtin.edu.au
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Souraya Goumri-Said was born in Toulouse, France. She received her
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magister degree from the physics department in Djilali Liabes University
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(Sidi-Bel Abbes, Algeria) in 2000. Her PhD was obtained from the
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Bourgogne University in Dijon (France) in 2004. Souraya then spent one
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year in Val de Marne University as assistant professor then joined the
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Advances in science and technology of Mn+1AXn phases

condensed matter group in the physics department of the technical

university of Kaisterslautern in Germany in 2005. From 2006 to 2010,
she was awarded different research fellows in France and Belgium as
postdoctoral and assistant professor at Maine University (Le Mans,
France). Then she worked as researcher at Namur University (Belgium)
from 2008 to 2010. Souraya worked and managed an industrial project
(Mirage) within the Arcelor Mital research and development department
in collaboration with three universities in the Wallonie region in Belgium.
Since 2010, she has been is employed as researcher in KAUST University
(Saudi Arabia). Her main area of research is density functional theory
applied to material science and modeling the physical properties of
functionalized materials such as spintronic, ceramics, carbides, nitrides
and borides. She also specializes in modeling optical, photonic devices
and nanostructures. Souraya is an associate editor of the Central
European Journal of Physics, within springer verlag edition. She edited
her first book in 2006 about ab initio methods applied to physical
properties of semiconductors nitrides and perovskites. Souraya is author
and co-author of more than 48 papers.

Sandip P. Harimkar is an assistant professor in the School of Mechanical

and Aerospace Engineering at the Oklahoma State University. His
research interests encompass advanced processing and characterization
of materials, with emphasis on investigating the mechanisms of micro/
nanostructure evolution and its influence on properties. Specific areas of
research include spark plasma sintering of nanostructured materials,
laser micromachining of materials, laser surface modifications of ceramics
and laser cladding of amorphous/composite coatings. Most of Harimkar’s
research projects are supported by the National Science Foundation,
NASA-EPSCoR and Oklahoma State University’s Technology Business
Development Program. He received his PhD in Materials Science and
Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2007.
Harimkar’s work on processing of materials has been published in
more than 35 research articles in international journals. He has also
coauthored a book entitled Laser Fabrication and Machining of Materials.
Harimkar is chair of the Surface Engineering Committee of the Minerals,
Metals and Materials Society. He has received several awards, including
Faculty Early Career Development Award (U.S. National Science
Foundation, 2012), Outstanding Manufacturing Engineer Award (Society
of Manufacturing Engineers, 2011), Young Leader Professional
Development Award (The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, 2010),
and K.K. Malik Award (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 2003).

xl Published by Woodhead Publishing Limited 2012

 About the editor and contributors

Harimkar teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in mechanical

metallurgy, phase transformations and modern materials.

Marion Le Flem (Dormeval) obtained her engineering degree in Material

Science at the Pierre et Marie Curie University, Paris, France in 1997. She
did her PhD at CEA where she investigated the electronic structure of
metallic plutonium. After a period as a consultant in the field of nuclear
safety, she joined the Nuclear Research Division of CEA in 2002, as a
research engineer, to develop innovative materials for application in the
core of Water Pressurized Reactors and Generation IV concepts. She has
been working in development and characterization of refractory ceramics
such as silicides, carbides, their composites and also MAX phases, in
particular their resistance to irradiation. She recently focused on refractory
and semi-refractory metals such as vanadium alloys to be assessed for
applications in future Gas and Sodium Fast Reactors. From 2009 to 2012,
she was in charge of the R&D co-ordination on advanced metals in the
scope of Sodium Fast Reactor. Since 2012, she is manager of the CEA
project “Materials for core components of Sodium Fast Reactors” involving
steels, ODS steels, refractory metals and SiC/SiC composites. Acting in
consideration of new material solutions for nuclear systems, she takes part
in collaborations with French universities and international programs.

Chenliang Li gained her B. Eng. and PhD degrees in Engineering

Mechanics at the Harbin Institute of Technology. She was awarded a
Research Assistantship by Nanyang Technological University to work
with Prof. Kuo in 2008. Now she works in Harbin Engineering University
as an associate professor. Dr. Li has published 13 research papers as the
lead author in international journals.

Youcef Medkour finished his undergraduate studies in the Physics of

Condensed Matter from the University of Sétif, Algeria in 2004. He
continued his postgraduate studies under the supervision of Professor
Abdelkrim Roumili. He completed his thesis and obtained his magister
degree from the Physics department, University of Sétif in 2007, entitled
“Some physical properties of M2AIC phases”. In 2012 his PhD thesis on
M2AX phases will be presented and defended at the Physics department,
Faculty of sciences, University of Sétif. Since 2010, he has worked as lecturer
and senior researcher in Physics at the University of Sétif. During his short
scientific career, about eight years, Mr. Medkour has been the lead author
of nine international publications, a principal author of a book-chapter
on MAX phases, and has participated at several scientific meetings. He is

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Advances in science and technology of Mn+1AXn phases

a member of a scientific project on MAX phases, and another project on

the antiperovskite compounds M3AX.

Wei Kong Pang gained his Bachelor of Science in Physics from National
Taiwan University and MSc. and PhD degrees in Applied Physics from
Curtin University of Technology prior to taking up a postdoctoral
research position at National Taiwan University and Tatung University,
Taiwan. Dr. Pang is author of over 20 archival research papers. His
published work on advanced ceramic systems, synchrotron, and neutron
diffractions has received more than 30 citations with an H-index of 4. He
has also given several invited presentations at international conferences
during his postdoctoral research on lithium ion batteries.

Xukun Qian gained his PhD degree (2010) in Materials Science from the
Harbin Institute of Technology prior to taking up a lecturer position at the
Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology. He taught the
undergraduates Organic Chemistry during 2010-2011. In 2011, he was
granted a natural science foundation from the Education Ministry of
Shaan-Xi Province (11JK0804). Since his PhD period, his research interest
has focused on synthesis and characterization of MAX-phase ceramics. He
has published more than 7 papers on the well-known MAX-phase ceramics.
Currently Dr. Qian is a research fellow at Nanyang Technological
University and he focuses his research on porous metal-organic frameworks.

Guiming Song obtained his PhD degree in Materials Science in 1999 from
the Harbin Institute of Technology, China. Currently, he works as R&D
engineer in Xycarb Ceramics, a division of Schunk Group in The
Netherlands. Prior to Xycarb Ceramics, he took an associate professor
position at the Harbin Institute of Technology from 2001, and a research
position at the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, in the period
2002-2011. He was a project leader on “Self-healing Ti-Al-C MAX phase
ceramics” funded by SenterNovem, the Netherlands. He was awarded a
BK21 scholarship to work in the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and
Technology (KAIST), South Korea (2001-2002). His research work has
resulted in one book, 52 peer-reviewed journal papers and more than 30
international conference presentations, leading to a Hirsch index of H=12.

Wei-Hsing Tuan was born in Taipei, Taiwan. He received his bachelor’s

degree from the Dept. of Metallurgy & Materials Engineering, National
Cheng-Kung University in 1980; and his master’s degree from the
Department of Materials Science, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan,

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 About the editor and contributors

in 1982. His PhD degree was obtained from the Department of Ceramics,
Leeds University, England in 1988. Wei-Hsing then spent one year at the
Powder Metallurgy Lab, Max-Planck Institut, Stuttgart, Germany, for
his postdoctoral study. Wei-Hsing then joined the Department of
Materials Science and Engineering of the National Taiwan University in
1990. Currently, he is a Distinguished Professor of the Department of
Materials Science and Engineering; Director of the Industry-Academic
Cooperation Center; and Deputy Dean of the R&D Department,
National Taiwan University. He is mainly interested in sintering, ceramic
processing and ceramic-matrix composites. He has served as the council
member of the Chinese Society for Materials Science since 2000. He has
received several awards including: Outstanding Innovation Award,
National Taiwan University (2008); Outstanding Technology Transferring
Award, National Science Council, Taiwan (2008, 2010); and Academician
of World Academy of Ceramics (WAC).

Erdong Wu is a professor at the Institute of Metal Research, Chinese

Academy of Science. He gained his PhD at the Flinders University of South
Australia, and has been a postdoctoral fellow and senior research fellow at
several universities in Australia. His research interests include characterization
and computational modeling of materials, with emphasis on using X-ray
and neutron diffraction techniques to investigate the structures and
properties of ceramic materials and hydrogen storage materials. He has
been the author or coauthor of about 100 research papers.

Michiyuki Yoshida is assistant professor of the Department of Materials

Science and Technology at Gifu University. He earned his PhD in 2003
in Materials Science from the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He was then
a postdoctoral fellow at the Tokyo Institute of Technology for 4 years,
where his research was focused on the superplasticity in nanocrystalline
ceramics. From 2007 to 2009, he was employed as Research Engineer at
Okayama Ceramics Research Foundation before joining Gifu University.
He is interested in every aspect of engineering ceramics, from processing
to mechanical and microstructural characterization.

Haibin Zhang received his PhD in materials science from Institute of

Metal Research (IMR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China, in 2006.
His thesis topic was MAX phase carbide in the Ti–Si–C and related
Ti–Si–Al–C solid solution material systems. During 2007–2009, he
worked in Tuebingen University, Germany as a Humboldt Researcher
with the research about the hydrothermal oxidation behavior of Ti3SiC2

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Advances in science and technology of Mn+1AXn phases

and Ti3AlC2. From 2009 to 2011, he was a NIMS postdoctoral researcher

in National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan and performed
the study of high-pressure spark plasma sintering (SPS) of advanced
transparent oxide ceramics with nano-size grains. From December 2011,
he joined Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry, China Academy of
Engineering Physics (CAEP) with a position of professor. Currently, his
research interests include binary ceramics systems such as SiC, Si3N4 and
ternary ceramics systems such as MAX phases.

Aiguo Zhou gained his BS degree in Ceramics from Wuhan University of

Technology, MS degree in Materials Science from Tsinghua University in
Beijing and PhD degree in Materials Engineering from Drexel University.
Now he is an associate professor of Henan Polytechnic University. He
earned an Excellent Master Thesis Award from Tsinghua University
(2003), Best Dissertation Award in Mathematical Sciences and
Engineering from Drexel University (2008) and Young Teacher Award
from Fok Ying Tung Education Foundation (2012). He is author of over
30 research papers. His work has received over 340 citations with an
H-index of 12. His research has been supported by the National Nature
Science Foundation of China (51002045, 10947105) and the Scientific
Research Foundation for Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars from the
State Education Ministry of China.

Yuan-Liang Chin was born in Taipei, Taiwan. He received both his

bachelor and master degrees from the Deptartment of Materials Science
and Engineering, National Cheng-Kung University in 2003 and 2005.
His PhD was obtained from the Deptartment of Materials Science and
Engineering, National Taiwan University in 2011. During his PhD study,
Yuan-Liang earned a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange
Service (DAAD) to get the practical training at the Federal Institute for
Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Berlin, Germany for three
months in 2006. In 2009, Yuan-Liang obtained another scholarship from
DAAD and worked at the Institute of Advanced Ceramics, Hamburg
University of Technology (TUHH), Hamburg, Germany for one year.
Since 2011, Yuan-Liang has been working as a R&D staff engineer at the
United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC).

xliv Published by Woodhead Publishing Limited 2012