Associate Professor Sammy Chan

ABOUT ME

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Associate Professor, School of Materials Science & Engineering, UNSW 2009-
Senior Lecturer, School of Materials Science & Engineering, UNSW 2003-2008

RESEARCH

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My research interests are in the areas of energy-materials, hydrogen storage and metal matrix composites (MMCs). Major contributions to the fields are:

(1) Identification of hydrogen trapping ability in different microstructures to provide a better understanding on the hydrogen embrittlement of steel.

(2) Application of Ni encapsulation on hydrogen storage alloys in the preparation of Ni-MH battery electrodes using sintering rather than via the paste method, so that the conductivity of the electrodes can be largely enhanced.

(3) Synthesis of nanostructured Ni(OH)2 with the performance of nickel electrodes increased by 30% in capacity.

(4) Development of aluminium matrix composites with nano-reinforcements. With only 1% of these reinforcements, the tensile properties of the composites are better than or comparable to those of composites with 10% micrometric reinforcements. The composites also have a very high creep resistance up to 0.8 of their melting points.

Publications include 3 book chapters, 75+ refereed journal papers and similar number of conference papers. He is named a corresponding author of one of the top 1% most highly cited papers in his field worldwide – Council of Canadian Academies.

TEACHING

TEACHING CONTRIBUTIONS

Courses are taught in the areas of Nanotechnology (Nanotechology II, Nanotechology III, Advanced Nanomaterials), Mechanical Properties of Materials, Corrosion and Corrosion Control, Surface Treatment and Wear, Specialty Alloys, Materials Design and Applications.  The teaching receives excellent evaluations from students. Supervision of 12 postgraduate students and 16 Honours students since coming to UNSW. 7 postgraduates have graduated already.

AWARDS AND MEMBERSHIPS

Fellow, Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, UK
Fellow, Australian Institute of Energy
Chartered Engineer, UK
Chartered Scientist, UK
Professional Member, Chinese Society for Materials Science
Co-editor, “Materials Chemistry and Physics”