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July 19th, 2012

Recognition of the European Mechanics Society

Abstract:
Prof. Javier LLorca, Director of IMDEA Materials Institute and head of the research group on "Advanced Structural Materials and Nanomaterials" of the Polytechnic University of Madrid has been elected Fellow of the European Mechanics Society (EuroMech).

Story:
The status of Fellow is awarded to members who have contributed significantly to the advancement of mechanics and related fields and it was granted to Prof. LLorca in recognition for his contributions to understand the relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties of materials by means of novel computational and experimental tools as well as multiscale modeling strategies.

The status of Fellow of the European Mechanics Society was officially conferred at the 8th European Solid Mechanics Conference held recently in Graz, Austria. Together with Prof. LLorca, the status of Euromech Fellow was also granted to Prof. Marc Geers from Eindhoven University of Technology and to Prof. Jean-Baptiste Leblond from Université Pierre et Marie Curie. There are currently sixteen EuroMech Fellows, which include the most prestigious researchers in the areas of solids and fluids mechanics in Europe. This is the first time a Spanish researcher receives this award.

Prof. LLorca has pioneered the systematic application of computational tools (molecular dynamics, dislocation dynamics, crystal plasticity, computational micromechanics, homogenization theory, etc.) and multiscale modeling strategies at different length scales (in the range nm to m) to establish the link between the microstructure and the macroscopic mechanical behavior of materials. A key feature of his overall contribution is the use of novel experimental techniques to determine the properties of the phases and interfaces in the material at the microscopic level. So, simulations are fed with experimental values independently obtained and are free of "adjusting" parameters.

He initially applied this new strategy to composites (metal-, ceramic- and polymer-matrix composites) and some of his contributions in this area are classics within the scientific community. In particular, he pioneered the development of multiscale modeling strategies for composite materials.

They constitute the foundation of the modern techniques of virtual testing, which are starting to be used by the aerospace industry to minimize the number of costly mechanical tests to characterize and certify the safety of composite structures and to optimize their performance. In addition, he has applied this methodology over the years to a wide range of engineering materials (including metallic alloys, ceramics, amorphous and crystalline polymers, high performance fibers and biological materials) by expanding the number and complexity of the simulation tools and experimental techniques.

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