Senior researcher named 'fellow' of American Ceramic Society Published Oct. 22, 2007 By Pete Meltzer, Jr. AFRL Materials & Manufacturing Directorate WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Dr. Randall S. Hay, a senior researcher at the Air Force Research Laboratory Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, has been appointed a Fellow of the 6,000-member American Ceramic Society. Dr. Hay works in the Directorate's Metals, Ceramics, and Nondestructive Evaluation Division and is a pioneer in the design of environmentally stable oxide composites being developed for turbine engine propulsion and power generation. His research has had a major impact on the fundamental understanding of high temperature stability, creep, and deformation characteristics in complex oxide ceramics. The results of his work have been significant in the development of high temperature ceramics and ceramic matrix composites and their implications to providing the broadest advantages to future air and space-based applications. The successful development of high temperature, durable, light-weight continuous-fiber ceramic composites is a key component for many future Air Force systems and is significant to improvements in nearer term technologies. Dr. Hay's research may be equally important for a diverse range of unforeseen applications enabled by the unusual properties his work has uncovered. Fiber-reinforced CMCs are of keen interest for a range of critical Air Force applications; from turbine and rocket engine components to thermal protection materials on currently fielded, developmental, and future air and space-based platforms. They have the potential to operate at temperatures in excess of 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit, well above the operating capabilities of most metals, and they provide significant performance durability because of their combination of temperature capability, low density, and mechanical integrity. Dr. Hay's work has been instrumental in the design and development of fiber-matrix interfaces that permit tough mechanical behavior, while maintaining durability in harsh operational environments. This work has been particularly challenging due to the breadth of research required and the need for understanding basic phenomena. During a concentrated research effort, Dr. Hay discovered that refractory complex oxides such as lanthanum phosphate monazite (LaPO4) have unusually low temperature plasticity, essential for meeting the composite requirements, and that there are important implications of this for numerous materials in many applications. In collaboration with other researchers, he successfully designed and executed experiments to determine deformation within these oxides, then formulated and developed a model for advanced composites and several other applications. Dr. Hay's enterprising work has earned considerable recognition throughout the scientific community through published papers and invited presentations at technical meetings. The impact of his work within the scientific arena is also reflected in his selection as chairman of the 2007 Gordon Conference on Solid State Studies in Ceramics. Dr. Hay holds nine patents relating to fiber coating and thin films, and has published more than 75 articles on phase transformations, microstructural development, and fiber coatings. In addition, he serves as an associate editor of the Journal of the American Ceramic Society. He holds bachelor degrees in mechanical engineering, geomechanical engineering, and chemistry; all from the University of Rochester. He completed his doctorate degree in geophysics at Princeton University, and post doctorate work at MIT. Dr. Hay was a recipient of the AFRL/RX Charles J. Cleary Award for Research Excellence in 1997 and a finalist for that award in 2002. He was a finalist for the Directorate's Robert T. Schwartz Award for Engineering Excellence in 1992 and a 2002 winner of an Air Force Basic Research Award Honorable Mention for his research investigations in eliminating fiber strength degradation in oxide coating processes.