Professor Ke Lu (B. Sc. in materials science and engineering, Nanjing University of Science & Technology, 1985; PhD in MSE, Institute of metal Research of CAS, 1990) is the President of the Liaoning Academy of Materials and a professor  of the Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was a visiting professor in Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung (Stuttgart, Germany) and in University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA).

Professor Lu's iconic scientific achievements include two parts:

(1) Discovery of nano-twinned materials and development of the nano-twin strengthening methodology. Traditional strengthening methodologies of materials (such as alloying, strain-hardening, dispersion strengthening, etc.) invariably suffer from an undesirable consequence that strength increases at an expense of ductility and thermal and/or electrical conductivity. Professor Lu and his co-workers discovered that by generating high density of nano-scale twins in grains, pure copper is strengthened by one order of magnitude while keeping its high electrical conductivity and a considerable ductility. They identified that the high density of twin boundaries may effectively block dislocation motions to strengthen materials, and at the same time, twin boundaries may act as dislocation slip planes to accommodate strains. With this discovery, Professor Lu and his collaborators developed a novel strengthening methodology, i.e., nano-twin strengthening, overcoming the conventional property trade-offs.

(2) Development of surface nanocrystallization of metals, from concept and principles to processing technology. Based on plastic deformation induced grain refinement mechanism, Professor Lu and his collaborators invented mechanically-driven surface nanocrystallization processes such as surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) and surface mechanical grinding treatment (SMGT) techniques to transform the coarse-grained structures into gradient nano-grained structures in surface layers on bulk metals. Such an elastic-homogeneous and plastic-heterogeneous gradient architecture provides a unique structure to upgrade the overall properties and performance of the bulk materials, including mechanical properties, surface chemical reactivity, and tribological behaviors of engineering materials. They discovered that with a gradient nano-grained surface layer, strength of a pure Cu bar can be doubled while its tensile ductility remains unchanged. The extraordinary intrinsic plasticity of gradient nano-grained structures offers a great potential for use as advanced coatings of bulk materials. Recently, by means of SMGT processing of nickel Professor Lu discovered ultra-hard and ultra-stable nano-laminated structures with low-angle boundaries, which offers a novel strong-and-stable nanostructure in metals.

He authored and co-authored more than 460 international peer-reviewed journal publications, held 41 patents, and presented over 150 invited lectures at international conferences and symposia. His publications received more than 20000 ISI citations. He is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2003), a member of German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (2005), and a member of TWAS (2004). He is a reviewing editor of Science (AAAS). He received Acta Materialia Gold Medal Award (USA, 2019), Humboldt Research Award (AvH Foundation, Germany, 2011), THERMEC Distinguished Award (Canada, 2006), TWNSO Award in Technology (TWAS, 2000), Kelly Lecturer (University of Cambridge, UK, 2010). He is a Fellow of the AAAS (USA), MRS (USA), and APAM.

Professional Experience

 

2022-Present	President, Liaoning Academy of Materials
Oct 2018 - Jan 2023	Vice Governor, Liaoning Province Government
July 2001-Jul 2012	Director, Institute of Metal Research, CAS
March 2001-Aug 2023	Director, Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science Institute of Metal Research, CAS
Jan. 2005-Dec 2007	Dean, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University
July 1997-Mar. 2001	Director, State Key Laboratory for Rapidly Solidified Non-equilibrium Alloys Institute of Metal Research, CAS
April 1999-Mar 2004	Leader, MPG (Max-Planck Society, Germany) C CAS Partner Group on materials science
Jan. 1993-Present	Professor, Institute of Metal Research, CAS
Nov.1990-Dec.1992	Associate professor, Institute of Metal Research, CAS
Jan.1990-Oct. 1991	Assistant research professor, Institute of Metal Research, CAS
Sept.1991-Mar.1993	Visiting scientist, Max-Planck-Institut fr Metallforschung (Stuttgart)
Oct. 1994-Mar.1995 & Sept-Nov. 1996	Visiting Professor, Max-Planck-Institut fr Metallforschung (Stuttgart)
Mar. -July 1996 & May-July 1997	Visiting Professor, Dept. Materials Science & Engineering  University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA)
Nov-Dec., 1997	Visiting Professor, National University of Singapore (Singapore)
August, 1999	Visiting Professor, University of Technology of Troyes (France)
Mar.-June, 2000	Visiting Professor, City University of Hong Kong

 

Service for Academic Journals

2020-present	Advisory Board Member, MRS Bulletin Impact
2014-present	Advisory Board Member, Editorial Board, Science Bulletin (CAS)
2014-present	Member of Editorial Committee, Acta Metallurgica Sinica
2012-present	Member of Editorial Board, Metallurgy, Microstructure, and Analysis (Springer)
2006-present	Reviewing Editor, Science (AAAS)
2004-2012	Editor, Scripta Materialia (Acta Materialia Inc.)
2007-2009	Member of Editorial Committee, Annual Review of Materials Research
2002-2018	Member of Editorial Committee Journal of Materials Science & Technology (Elsevier)
2000-present	Advisory Board Member  Zeitschrift Fuer Metallkunde (Hanser, Germany)
1997-1999	Associate Editor Nanostructured Materials (Acta Metallurgica Inc.)

 

Professional Societies

1998-2010	Member, International Committee on Nanostructured Materials
2002-2012	Vice Chairman, The Chinese Society of Metals (CSM)
2003-2011	Vice President, Chinese Materials Research Society (C-MRS)
1995-2006	International Advisory Committee Member  International Symposium on Metastable, Mechanicallly Alloyed and Nanocrystalline Materials (ISMANAM)
2003-2020	International Advisory Committee Member, International Conference on Rapidly Quenched & Metastable Materials (RQ)
1994-present	Member, TMS (USA)
2000-present	Member, MRS (USA)

 

Honors and Awards

1. 2024 The D.K.C MacDonald Memorial Lecturer (Canadian Materials Conference)
2. 2024 Senior Career Award (JMRT, Brazil)
3. 2021 Institute of Metals Lecture and Robert Franklin Mehl Award (USA)
4. 2019 Acta Materialia Gold Medal Award (USA)
5. 2018 Foreign member, National Academy of Engineering of USA (elected)
6. 2018 DOW Distinguished Lecture, Northwestern University (USA)
7. 2018 Honorary professorship, Xi’an Jiaotong University
8. 2017 Highly Cited Researcher Award (Clarivate Analytics)
9. 2017 TMS Fellow Award (TMS, USA)
10. 2017 Engineering Distinguished Lecture, Monash University (Australia)
11. 2016 Highly Cited Researcher Award (Thomson Reuters)
12. 2016 Senior Fellow, Institute of Advanced Study, City University of Hong Kong
13. 2015 Highly Cited Researcher Award (Thomson Reuters)
14. 2015 AAAS Fellow (American Association for the Advancement of Science, USA)
15. 2014 International Citation Impact Award (Thomson Reuters)
16. 2014 Highly Cited Researcher Award (Thomson Reuters)
17. 2014 IMNI Distinguished Lectureship, Brown University (USA)
18. 2011 Humboldt Research Award (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany)
19. 2010 Kelly Lecturer (University of Cambridge, UK)
20. 2010 Distinguished Visiting Fellow (Royal Academy of Engineering, UK)
21. 2010 MRS Fellow (MRS, USA)
22. 2008 YC Cheng Faculty Distinguished Lectureship (Hong Kong University)
23. 2006 THERMEC Distinguished Award (Canada)
24. 2005 Member of The German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina (elected)
25. 2004 Member of The Third World Academy of Sciences (elected)
26. 2003 Member of Chinese Academy of Sciences (elected)
27. 2006 THERMEC Distinguished Award (Canada)
28. 2002 Hasiguti Foundation Prize
29. 2000 The Third World Academy TWNSO Technology Prize
30. 2000 SCI Citation Classic Award (ISI, USA)
31. 1999 Ho-Leung-Ho-Lee Technology Science Award (Hong Kong)
32. 1999 Shenyang Science and Technology Zhenxing Award
33. 1998 ISMANAM98 Gold Medal and Junior Scientist Award (Australia)
34. 1997 National Nature Science Award
35. 1996 CAS Nature Science Award
36. 1996 The Distinguished Young Scientists Award of China
37. 1995 Qiushi Distinguished Young Scientist Award (Hong Kong)
38. 1993 CAS Nature Science Award
39. 1992 Youth Science & Technology Award of China
40. 1991 Distinguished Young Scientists Award of CAS
41. 1990 The Best Paper Award of the Chinese Association of Metals

 

Publications, Patents, and Invitied Talks

1. Authored and co-authored 460 international peer-reviewed journal papers (Publication List)
2. Held 41 patents (Patent List)
3. Presented 150 invited lectures at international conferences and symposia (Invited Presentation List).

 

Ten 10 Representative Publications

1. K. LU 
   Nanocrystalline materials crystallized from amorphous solids: Nanocrystallization, structure, and properties (Invited review article)
   Materials Science & Engineering R: Reports, 16, (1996), 161-221.
2. Q.S. MEI, K. LU
   Melting and superheating of crystalline solids: From bulk to nanocrystals (Invited review article)
   Progress in Materials Science, 52 (2007) 1175-1262.
3. L. LU, M.L. SUI, K. LU 
   Superplastic extensibility of nanocrystalline copper at room temperature 
   Science, 287, (2000), 1463-1466.
4. W.P. Tong, N.R. Tao, Z.B. Wang, J. Lu, K. Lu
   Nitriding iron at lower-temperatures
   Science, 299, (2003) 686-688.
5. L. Lu, Y.F. Shen, X.H. CHEN, L.H. QIAN, K. Lu
   Ultrahigh strength and high electrical conductivity in copper
   Science, 304, (2004) 422-426.
6. K. LU, Y. LI
   Homogeneous nucleation catastrophe as a kinetic stability limit for superheated crystal
   Physical Review Letters, 80, (1998), 4474-4477.
7. L. ZHANG, Z.H. JIN, L.H. ZHANG, M.L. SUI, K. LU 
   Superheating of confined Pb thin films 
   Physical Review Letters, 85, (2000), 1484-1487.
8. Z.H. Jin, P. Gumbsch, K. Lu, E. Ma 
   Melting mechanisms at the limit of superheating
   Physical Review Letters, 87, 5 (2001) 5703
9. N.R. Tao, Z.B. Wang, W.P. Tong, M.L. Sui, J. LU, K. Lu 
   An investigation of surface nanocrystallization mechanism in Fe induced by surface mechanical attrition treatment
   Acta Materialia, 50 (2002) 4603-4616
10. K. LU, J.T. WANG, W.D. WEI
    A new method for synthesizing nanocrystalline alloys
    Journal of Applied Physics, 69, (1991), 522-524.