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Dr Gwenaelle Proust

Diplôme d'ingénieur (eq.BE), 1999, ISITEM (France); Master, 2002, Drexel University (USA); Ph.D., 2005, Drexel University (USA)
Senior Lecturer

J05 - J05 Civil Engineering Building
The University of Sydney
Website Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis

Biographical details

Gwénaëlle did her undergraduate studies in La Rochelle and Nantes in France where she received an engineering degree in materials in 1999. Gwénaëlle then moved to Philadelphia in the USA to attend grad school at Drexel University in the department of Materials Science and Engineering. In 2002, she obtained a MS degree by completing a thesis which subject was on adhesion between aluminum surfaces and polyurethane films. In 2002, Gwénaëlle joined Dr. Surya Kalidindi's group to work on his microstructure sensitive design project. She had a side project in collaboration with Dr. Roger Doherty and Dr. Surya Kalidindi on characterization of aluminum, copper and titanium elastic and plastic anisotropy using nanoindentation and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). Gwénaëlle obtained her PhD degree in April 2005. In May 2005, she moved to New Mexico to become a post-doc at Los Alamos National Laboratory in a team working on multiscale modeling of polycrystalline metals. Her mentor at the lab was Dr. Carlos Tomé. She worked there on constitutive model to predict the stress-strain response and texture evolution of zirconium and magnesium during strain-path change deformation. Gwénaëlle also characterized the microstructure and twinning evolution of zirconium and titanium samples using EBSD and developed a program to automatically recognized twinned domains in collaboration with Rodney McCabe.

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Research interests

Every object we use comprises materials of some kind. Dr Gwénaëlle Proust's research aims to understand the properties of these materials and how we can improve their performance, ultimately leading to energy savings and to safer, more efficient devices.
"My research focuses primarily on metals, including aluminium, steel, titanium and magnesium, and how they behave when subjected to an external load. It has applications in the automotive and aerospace industries in terms of making lighter, stronger components of land and air vehicles.
"Using lighter materials saves energy. If we can use materials that are as strong as or stronger than existing materials - for example, aluminium or magnesium rather than steel - we can provide the same required strength using less material, which will make the vehicle lighter and so require less fuel to propel it.
"I carry out experimental work in a laboratory, observing what happens within a material when a load is applied and modelling its mechanical properties. I also study how changing the microstructure of a material through the application of heat, deformation or other processes modifies its behaviour. My aim is to determine how we can improve the performance of materials.
"I like spending time in the lab, and I'm always impressed to discover the microstructure features of a new specimen. I'm really interested in understanding how things work.
"I've worked in this field since beginning my PhD in 2002, and I joined the staff of the University of Sydney in 2008. Being here gives me access to state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, and has allowed me to set up a lab in which to pursue my particular research interests."

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Teaching and supervision

CIVL2110 - Materials
CIVL5020 - Capstone Project A
CIVL5021 - Capstone Project B
CIVL5022 - Capstone Project B Extended
CIVL5222 - Dissertation A
CIVL5223 - Dissertation B
CIVL5501 - Foundations of Materials

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Selected grants

2012

  • Joint processing facility for the production of far-from-equilibrium alloy structures; Liao X, Laws K, Sha G, Ringer S, Ferry M, Wang X, Wang Y, Chan S, Proust G, Zhang Y, Lu C; Australian Research Council/Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF).

2010

  • Advanced Focused Ion Beam (FIB) / Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM) for Nanometre Scale Characterisation and Fabrication; Cairney J, Munroe P, Ringer S, Ferry M, Mai Y, Liao X, McKenzie D, Wenham S, Dzurak A, Stevens-Kalceff M, Spinks G, Dou S, Valanoor N, Liu Z, Proust G, Young D, Braet F, Chan-Ling T, Maschmeyer T, Chan H, Traini D, Swain M, Harris A, Crawford J, Potts D; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF).
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Selected publications

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Book Chapters

  • Kong, Y., Shen, L., Proust, G., Ranzi, G. (2011). Interface structure and mechanical properties of the nanolayered Al/Pd thin films. In Jinghong Fan, Junqian Zhang, Haibo Chen, Zhaohui Jin (Eds.), Advances in Heterogeneous Material Mechanics, (pp. 84-87). USA: DEStech Publications Inc.

Journals

  • Lee, C., Proust, G., Alici, G., Spinks, G., Cairney, J. (2012). Three-dimensional nanofabrication of polystyrene by focused ion beam. Journal of Microscopy, 248(2), 129-139.
  • Kong, Y., Shen, L., Proust, G., Ranzi, G. (2011). Al-Pd interatomic potential and its application to nanoscale multilayer thin films. Materials Science and Engineering A: Structural Materials: Properties, Microstructures and Processing, 530(1), 73-86.
  • Lee, C., Alici, G., Spinks, G., Proust, G., Cairney, J. (2011). Focused Ion Beam Fabricated Polystyrene-Platinum Thermal Microactuator. Advanced Materials Research, 254(2011), 86-89.
  • Lee, C., Alici, G., Spinks, G., Proust, G., Cairney, J. (2011). Micron-scale polymer-metal cantilever actuators fabricated by focused ion beam. Sensors and Actuators A-Physical, 172, 462-470.
  • Marshall, P., Proust, G., Rogers, J., McCabe, R. (2010). Automatic twin statistics from electron backscattered diffraction data. Journal of Microscopy, 238(3), 218-229.
  • Proust, G., Kaschner, G., Beyerlein, I., Clausen, B., Brown, D., McCabe, R., Tome, C. (2010). Detwinning of High-Purity Zirconium: In-Situ Neutron Diffraction Experiments. Experimental Mechanics, 50(1), 125-133.
  • Kaschner, G., Lovato, M., Stout, M., Proust, G., Liu, C., Beyerlein, I., Usov, I., Wang, Y., Tome, C. (2010). Mini-Tensile Experiments of Clock-Rolled Zirconium Plate. Experimental Mechanics, 50, 65-70.
  • Randeniya, L., Bendavid, A., Martin, P., Cairney, J., Sullivan, A., Webster, S., Proust, G., Tang, F., Rohanizadeh, R. (2010). Thin film composites of nanocrystalline ZrO2 and diamond-like carbon: Synthesis, structural properties and bone cell proliferation. Acta Biomaterialia, 6(10), 4154-4160.
  • Proust, G., Tome, C., Jain, A., Agnew, S. (2009). Modeling the effect of twinning and detwinning during strain-path changes of magnesium alloy AZ31. International Journal of Plasticity, 25, 861-880.
  • McCabe, R., Proust, G., Cerreta, E., Misra, A. (2009). Quantitative analysis of deformation twinning in zirconium. International Journal of Plasticity, 25, 454-472.
  • Wu, X., Proust, G., Knezevic, M., Kalidindi, S. (2007). Elastic-plastic property closures for hexagonal close-packed polycrystalline metals using first-order bounding theories. Acta Materialia, 55, 2729-2737.
  • Houskamp, J., Proust, G., Kalidindi, S. (2007). Integration of Microstructure-Sensitive Design with Finite Element Methods: Elastic-Plastic Case Studies in FCC Polycrystals. International Journal for Multiscale Computational Engineering, 5(3-4), 261-272.
  • Proust, G., Tome, C., Kaschner, G. (2007). Modeling texture, twinning and hardening evolution during deformation of hexagonal materials. Acta Materialia, 55, 2137-2148.
  • McCabe, R., Proust, G., Misra, A., Cerreta, E., Henrie, B. (2006). EBSD and Coupled EBSD/TEM Analysis of Zirconium Deformation Mechanisms. Microscopy and Microanalysis, 12(Supp 2), 1024-1025.
  • Proust, G., Kalidindi, S. (2006). Procedures for construction of anisotropic elastic-plastic property closures for face-centered cubic polycrystals using first-order bounding relations. Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 54(8), 1744-1762.
  • Kalidindi, S., Houskamp, J., Proust, G., Duvvuru, H. (2005). Microstructure sensitive design with first order homogenization theories and finite element codes. Materials Science Forum, 495-497(Part 1), 23-29.
  • Proust, G., Kalidindi, S. (2004). Effect of the Crystal Orientation on the Measured Response During Nanoindentation. TMS Letters, 1(7), 151-152.

Conferences

  • Li, L., Shen, L., Proust, G., Moy, C., Ranzi, G. (2012). A crystal plasticity representative volume element model for simulating nanoindentation of aluminium alloy 2024. The 4th International Conference on Computational Methods (ICCM2012), Gold Coast: ICCM2012 Organising Committee.
  • Oo, B., Proust, G., Lim, B. (2012). An empirical study of communication competence of civil engineering graduates – implication of engineering curriculums. The Joint CIB International Symposium of W055, W065, W089, W118, TG76, TG78, TG81 and TG84, Montreal: International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB).
  • Chemkhi, M., Retraint, D., Roos, A., Demangel, C., Proust, G., Waltz, L. (2012). Microstructural evolution of a 316L alloy subjected to surface nanocrystallisation and low-temperature plasma nitriding. 15th International Conference on Advances in Materials and Processing Technologies, Wollongong Australia: University of Wollongong.
  • McDonell, K., Proust, G., Shen, L. (2012). Nanoengineering carbon nanotubes: The effects of electron irradiation on nanotube structure. 2011 Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall Meeting, Boston, USA: Cambridge University Press.
  • Proust, G. (2011). Predicting Twinning Effect during the Deformation of Hexagonal Close-Packed Metals. Annual International Conference on Materials Science, Metal and Manufacturing (M3 2011), Singapore: Global Science and Technology Forum.
  • Shen, L., Proust, G., Ranzi, G. (2010). An atomistic study of dislocation-solute interaction in Mg-Al alloys. 9th World Congress on Computational Mechanics and 4th Asian Pacific Congress on Computational Mechanics WCCM-APCOM 2010, Bristol, UK: IOP Publishing.
  • McDonell, K., Proust, G., Shen, L. (2010). Effects of electron irradiation on single-walled carbon nanotubes. 9th World Congress on Computational Mechanics and 4th Asian Pacific Congress on Computational Mechanics WCCM-APCOM 2010, Bristol, UK: IOP Publishing.
  • Kalidindi, S., Houskamp, J., Proust, G. (2004). Coupling of microstructure sensitive design with finite element codes: Design of an orthotropic plate with a circular hole loaded in tension. ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, USA: American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

2012

  • Li, L., Shen, L., Proust, G., Moy, C., Ranzi, G. (2012). A crystal plasticity representative volume element model for simulating nanoindentation of aluminium alloy 2024. The 4th International Conference on Computational Methods (ICCM2012), Gold Coast: ICCM2012 Organising Committee.
  • Oo, B., Proust, G., Lim, B. (2012). An empirical study of communication competence of civil engineering graduates – implication of engineering curriculums. The Joint CIB International Symposium of W055, W065, W089, W118, TG76, TG78, TG81 and TG84, Montreal: International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB).
  • Chemkhi, M., Retraint, D., Roos, A., Demangel, C., Proust, G., Waltz, L. (2012). Microstructural evolution of a 316L alloy subjected to surface nanocrystallisation and low-temperature plasma nitriding. 15th International Conference on Advances in Materials and Processing Technologies, Wollongong Australia: University of Wollongong.
  • McDonell, K., Proust, G., Shen, L. (2012). Nanoengineering carbon nanotubes: The effects of electron irradiation on nanotube structure. 2011 Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall Meeting, Boston, USA: Cambridge University Press.
  • Lee, C., Proust, G., Alici, G., Spinks, G., Cairney, J. (2012). Three-dimensional nanofabrication of polystyrene by focused ion beam. Journal of Microscopy, 248(2), 129-139.

2011

  • Kong, Y., Shen, L., Proust, G., Ranzi, G. (2011). Al-Pd interatomic potential and its application to nanoscale multilayer thin films. Materials Science and Engineering A: Structural Materials: Properties, Microstructures and Processing, 530(1), 73-86.
  • Lee, C., Alici, G., Spinks, G., Proust, G., Cairney, J. (2011). Focused Ion Beam Fabricated Polystyrene-Platinum Thermal Microactuator. Advanced Materials Research, 254(2011), 86-89.
  • Kong, Y., Shen, L., Proust, G., Ranzi, G. (2011). Interface structure and mechanical properties of the nanolayered Al/Pd thin films. In Jinghong Fan, Junqian Zhang, Haibo Chen, Zhaohui Jin (Eds.), Advances in Heterogeneous Material Mechanics, (pp. 84-87). USA: DEStech Publications Inc.
  • Lee, C., Alici, G., Spinks, G., Proust, G., Cairney, J. (2011). Micron-scale polymer-metal cantilever actuators fabricated by focused ion beam. Sensors and Actuators A-Physical, 172, 462-470.
  • Proust, G. (2011). Predicting Twinning Effect during the Deformation of Hexagonal Close-Packed Metals. Annual International Conference on Materials Science, Metal and Manufacturing (M3 2011), Singapore: Global Science and Technology Forum.

2010

  • Shen, L., Proust, G., Ranzi, G. (2010). An atomistic study of dislocation-solute interaction in Mg-Al alloys. 9th World Congress on Computational Mechanics and 4th Asian Pacific Congress on Computational Mechanics WCCM-APCOM 2010, Bristol, UK: IOP Publishing.
  • Marshall, P., Proust, G., Rogers, J., McCabe, R. (2010). Automatic twin statistics from electron backscattered diffraction data. Journal of Microscopy, 238(3), 218-229.
  • Proust, G., Kaschner, G., Beyerlein, I., Clausen, B., Brown, D., McCabe, R., Tome, C. (2010). Detwinning of High-Purity Zirconium: In-Situ Neutron Diffraction Experiments. Experimental Mechanics, 50(1), 125-133.
  • McDonell, K., Proust, G., Shen, L. (2010). Effects of electron irradiation on single-walled carbon nanotubes. 9th World Congress on Computational Mechanics and 4th Asian Pacific Congress on Computational Mechanics WCCM-APCOM 2010, Bristol, UK: IOP Publishing.
  • Kaschner, G., Lovato, M., Stout, M., Proust, G., Liu, C., Beyerlein, I., Usov, I., Wang, Y., Tome, C. (2010). Mini-Tensile Experiments of Clock-Rolled Zirconium Plate. Experimental Mechanics, 50, 65-70.
  • Randeniya, L., Bendavid, A., Martin, P., Cairney, J., Sullivan, A., Webster, S., Proust, G., Tang, F., Rohanizadeh, R. (2010). Thin film composites of nanocrystalline ZrO2 and diamond-like carbon: Synthesis, structural properties and bone cell proliferation. Acta Biomaterialia, 6(10), 4154-4160.

2009

  • Proust, G., Tome, C., Jain, A., Agnew, S. (2009). Modeling the effect of twinning and detwinning during strain-path changes of magnesium alloy AZ31. International Journal of Plasticity, 25, 861-880.
  • McCabe, R., Proust, G., Cerreta, E., Misra, A. (2009). Quantitative analysis of deformation twinning in zirconium. International Journal of Plasticity, 25, 454-472.

2007

  • Wu, X., Proust, G., Knezevic, M., Kalidindi, S. (2007). Elastic-plastic property closures for hexagonal close-packed polycrystalline metals using first-order bounding theories. Acta Materialia, 55, 2729-2737.
  • Houskamp, J., Proust, G., Kalidindi, S. (2007). Integration of Microstructure-Sensitive Design with Finite Element Methods: Elastic-Plastic Case Studies in FCC Polycrystals. International Journal for Multiscale Computational Engineering, 5(3-4), 261-272.
  • Proust, G., Tome, C., Kaschner, G. (2007). Modeling texture, twinning and hardening evolution during deformation of hexagonal materials. Acta Materialia, 55, 2137-2148.

2006

  • McCabe, R., Proust, G., Misra, A., Cerreta, E., Henrie, B. (2006). EBSD and Coupled EBSD/TEM Analysis of Zirconium Deformation Mechanisms. Microscopy and Microanalysis, 12(Supp 2), 1024-1025.
  • Proust, G., Kalidindi, S. (2006). Procedures for construction of anisotropic elastic-plastic property closures for face-centered cubic polycrystals using first-order bounding relations. Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 54(8), 1744-1762.

2005

  • Kalidindi, S., Houskamp, J., Proust, G., Duvvuru, H. (2005). Microstructure sensitive design with first order homogenization theories and finite element codes. Materials Science Forum, 495-497(Part 1), 23-29.

2004

  • Kalidindi, S., Houskamp, J., Proust, G. (2004). Coupling of microstructure sensitive design with finite element codes: Design of an orthotropic plate with a circular hole loaded in tension. ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, USA: American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
  • Proust, G., Kalidindi, S. (2004). Effect of the Crystal Orientation on the Measured Response During Nanoindentation. TMS Letters, 1(7), 151-152.
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