Irene J. Beyerlein
· NAE Mehrabian Interdisciplinary Endowed Professor Professor, Mechanical Engineering and MaterialsVerifiedUniversity of California, Santa Barbara · Materials
Active 1996–2026
About
Professor Irene J. Beyerlein leads a research group at the University of California, Santa Barbara, within the Materials Department. Her lab focuses on the study of dislocation dynamics and mechanical behavior in complex metallic materials, including refractory multi-principal element alloys, metallic nanolaminates, and high-performance alloys. The research conducted under her guidance spans multi-scale modeling approaches such as phase-field dislocation dynamics, crystal plasticity finite element methods, and thermo-mechanical constitutive modeling to investigate deformation mechanisms, slip localization, fatigue damage, and defect interactions in metals and alloys. The group’s work encompasses both computational simulations and experimental studies to understand the origins of mechanical behavior in polycrystalline and nanostructured materials under various loading conditions, including high strain rates and cyclic fatigue. Professor Beyerlein’s research contributes to advancing the fundamental understanding of strengthening mechanisms, dislocation-defect interactions, and microstructural effects in materials critical for structural and high-temperature applications.
Research topics
- Materials science
- Political Science
- Crystallography
- Nanotechnology
- Metallurgy
- Composite material
- Physics
- Thermodynamics
- Chemistry
- Condensed matter physics
- Geometry
- Mathematics
- Computational chemistry
- Optics
Selected publications
Acta Materialia · 2026-04-22
articleRole of face centered cubic/body centered cubic phase boundary crystallography on void growth
International Journal of Plasticity · 2025-01-30 · 3 citations
articleOpen accessSenior authorIn this work, using a mesoscale model, we investigate void growth as mediated by plastic slip at face-centered cubic (FCC)/body centered cubic (BCC) phase boundaries. We employ a large-strain elasto-visco-plastic fast Fourier transform (LS-EVP-FFT) crystal plasticity model with the advantage of treating smooth conformal void surfaces in a crystal. The calculations aim to identify the role of crystallographic orientation , phase boundary inclination, strain hardening, and BCC slip mode selection. To this end, both model FCC/BCC boundaries and FCC Cu/BCC Ta boundaries are considered, as well as commonly found phase boundary characters and a wide range of orientation relationships. We show that at Kurdjumov–Sachs (K–S) interfaces the void prefers to grow in the BCC crystal regardless of slip mode selection or hardening rate. The void grows faster when two slip modes 〈 111 〉 { 110 } and 〈 111 〉 { 112 } are available in the BCC grain than when only the 〈 111 〉 { 110 } mode is available. The differing hardening rates expected of Cu and Ta lead to an overwhelmingly strong preference for void growth into the Ta side than the Cu side, regardless of orientations, orientation relationships, and phase boundary inclinations. • 3D elastic-crystal plasticity model investigates void growth in FCC/BCC bicrystals. • The strong role of adjoining crystal orientations at biphase boundaries is revealed. • Phase boundary inclination weakly affects rate of void growth. • Greater availability of slip systems in the BCC crystal leads to faster void growth. • Lower hardening rate in Ta than Cu leads to faster growth in Ta than Cu.
Thermo-mechanical experiments for deformation twinning in high-purity titanium
Mechanics of Materials · 2025-09-10 · 1 citations
articleExtending Interfaces in 3D to Achieve Superior Nanoscale Strength in Ti/Nb Nanolaminates
Nano Letters · 2025-05-09 · 1 citations
articleTuning the atomic-level structure of nanolaminates enables high strength, increased deformability, and the ability to absorb and mitigate damage due to varied crystalline defects, including dislocations. We present the enhanced strength of Ti/Nb nanolaminates containing thick 3D interfaces (3DIs), relative to their chemically abrupt 2D counterparts. We examine the effects of crystallographic alignment and compositional gradients on mechanical behavior via experiments and phase-field-dislocation dynamics (PFDD) modeling. Mechanical testing reveals that nanolaminates containing thicker 3DIs demonstrate a 28% hardness enhancement compared with sharp-interface nanolaminates. PFDD modeling shows that the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) increases with the 3DI thickness. Gradual compositional transitions in 3DIs were confirmed via scanning transmission electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, showing sharp crystallographic transitions and a heightened interface topography. The findings establish a positive function between the 3DI thickness and mechanical robustness for hexagonal-closest-packed-containing composites, emphasizing the role of defect-interface interactions in tailoring the mechanical performance and providing a foundation for future interfacial engineering.
Interface thickness size effects on strength and shear localizations in Cu/Nb nanolaminates
SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01
preprintOpen accessMechanics Research Communications · 2025-05-28 · 1 citations
articleSenior authorGrain size effects on slip band development
International Journal of Solids and Structures · 2025-08-08 · 4 citations
articleSenior authorRole of temperature on screw dislocation dynamics in Ta, W, and Ta–W alloy
Journal of Materials Research and Technology · 2025-02-17 · 11 citations
articleOpen accessSenior authorThe mechanical properties of body-centered cubic (bcc) materials exhibit a characteristic temperature dependence that have conventionally been associated with the effect of temperature on the stress required for dislocation motion. In this work, we investigate the effect of temperature on screw dislocation dynamics in Ta, W, and Ta–W alloy using a three-dimensional phase-field-dislocation dynamics model combined with Langevin dynamics. The model only uses temperature dependent elastic moduli and generalized stacking fault energy curves from atomistic calculation. For a broad range of temperatures and in all metals, a critical stress associated with a jerky-to-smooth motion transition of a long screw dislocation is predicted. We show that glide at this critical threshold undergoes two temperature-induced transitions. For all three materials, the critical stress for screw dislocation motion declines with increases in temperature in three stages, eventually reaching a plateau where it is insensitive to temperature. These transition temperatures strongly correlate with those corresponding to experimentally measured transitions in yield strength with increases in temperature. At low temperatures, the classic kink pair mechanism prevails and the predicted activation enthalpies for kink pair formation are shown to agree quantitatively with those reported by atomistic and/or experimental studies. Finally, the material deforming under high temperature and stress are subsequently cooled to room temperature and fully unloaded to examine the dislocation line morphologies “post-mortem”. It is shown that the initial screw orientation is nearly recovered regardless of the prior deformation temperature and stress. These findings imply that the thermally activated motion of screw dislocations governs the temperature-dependent strength of bcc metals and alloys over a much wider range of temperatures than conventionally thought.
A phase-field model for simulating detwinning in nanotwinned materials
Computational Materials Science · 2025-04-16 · 3 citations
articleSenior authorScripta Materialia · 2025-04-26
erratumOpen access
Recent grants
NSF · $285k · 2017–2021
NSF · $482k · 2023–2026
DMREF/Collaborative Research: Multiscale Alloy Design of HCP Alloys via Twin Mesh Engineering
NSF · $400k · 2017–2022
NSF · $311k · 2021–2024
Frequent coauthors
- 120 shared
Shuozhi Xu
University of Oklahoma
- 104 shared
Nathan A. Mara
- 75 shared
Marko Knežević
University of New Hampshire
- 63 shared
Abigail Hunter
- 61 shared
Jian Wang
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
- 61 shared
Tresa M. Pollock
University of California, Santa Barbara
- 51 shared
Shijian Zheng
Hebei University of Technology
- 48 shared
C.N. Tomé
Labs
Materials Department | UC Santa Barbara
Awards & honors
- 2023 Fellow, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society
- 2021 Fellow, Materials Research Society
- 2020 Light Metals Magnesium Best Paper - Fundamental Researc…
- 2019 Structural Materials Division JOM Best Paper Award
- 2019 Champion H. Mathewson Award
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