After participating in a SOURCE-funded project in Summer 2020, junior Jackson Smith decided to submit her project, “Effect of High Energy Ball Milling on Transformation Temperature of Cr2Nb,” to CWRU’s Virtual Intersections & Celebrations of Student Writing and Research event.

Working remotely, Smith analyzed images of milled Cr and Nb powder, determining the particle size distributions. Smith used the results of how large the particles were after each milling stage to determine how long it would take to mill the powder to get a minimum size at each bearing size used for the project.

Smith worked on the project with Professor John Lewandowski and PhD candidate David Scannapieco.  Scannapieco did the lab work with pure Cr and Nb powder.  Smith then used ImageJ to analyze the images and took the csv files that ImageJ created, doing the plotting and calculations in Excel.

During her project, Smith learned about the importance of data analysis to research.  “It helps guide decisions made to progress research as well as serves as support for what is determined during your research.”  She also learned about material analysis techniques, such as differential scanning calorimetry and x-ray diffraction, which can be used together for strengthening and confirming conclusions.

Smith has been adding to her materials resume in recent months.  In January, she will head to Belmont, Calif. for an internship at Nikon.  She also was a co-author on a presentation Scannapieco recently gave at the Joint-Army-Navy-NASA-Air Force Additive Manufacturing for Propulsion Applications Technical Interchange Meeting.