Areas of Research
- CFD Multisclae Modeling in Materials Processing
- Modeling of Microstructure Evolution in Addtitive Manufactuing Processes
- Research and Development of High Performance Alloys
- Solidification Science and Engineering of Castings
- Ultrasonic Processing of Alloys and Nanocomposites
At Caterpillar, he conducted research in the area of macro transport and solidification-kinetics modeling and developed specialized casting simulation software.
Dr. Nastac’s research interests include:
- Solidification Science (solidification-kinetics, convection effects on solidification processes (nucleation and growth kinetics, interface stability), microstructure evolution modeling of primary and secondary phases in various alloy systems)
- Apply novel experimental techniques including levitation, atomization, electromagnetic stirring, ultrasonic (cavitation, shock force and acoustic streaming technologies), micro-chilling technology, mechanical shearing, etc., for understanding and control of various microscopic and macroscopic phenomena that take place during the solidification of alloys and metal-matrix-composites including microstructure evolution, interface instability of alloys, dendritic growth, segregation, cracking, hot tearing, shrinkage and porosities, mold/metal interface interactions in casting alloys, morphological transitions, etc.
- Advanced multi-scale multi-phase multi-component modeling and simulation approaches:
- Multi-scale Modeling of the segregation and microstructure to enhance material properties
- Micro-modeling of the mechanical behavior of various alloy systems
- Process modeling of complex manufacturing processes
- Stress and deformation evolution modeling during solidification and cooling
- Advanced metalcasting, continuous casting, and remelting processing 3D sand and metal printing
- Additive Manufacturing
- Processing-microstructure-properties relationships utilizing computational intelligence tools such as Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Genetic Algorithms (GA), decision trees, fuzzy logic, etc.
- Physical metallurgy of ferrous and nonferrous alloys
- Advanced manufacturing of specialty alloys, light alloys, metal-matrix-composites and nano-metal-matrix-composites
- Ultrasonic, Electromagnetic and Solidification processing of alloys and nano-composites
- Steel Cleanliness: Modeling of Ladle Metallurgical Furnace (LMF) Processes
