Valery I. Levitas Explained

Valery I Levitas
Birth Place:	Ukraine
Nationality:	American
Occupation:	Mechanics and material scientist, academic and author
Education:	M.S., Mechanical Engineering PHD, Materials Science and Engineering D.Sc., Continuum Mechanics Habilitation in Continuum Mechanics
Alma Mater:	Kiev Polytechnic Institute Institute for Superhard Materials
Thesis Title:	Simulation of Materials Plastic Flow at High Pressure (1981) Large Elastoplastic Deformation of Materials at High Pressure (1988)
Workplaces:	Iowa State University

Valery I Levitas is a Ukrainian mechanics and material scientist, academic and author. He is an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor and Murray Harpole Chair in Engineering at Iowa State University^[1] and was a faculty scientist at the Ames National Laboratory.^[2]

Levitas is most known for his works on the mechanics of materials, stress and strain-induced phase transformations and chemical reactions. Among his authored works are his publications in academic journals, including Science, Nature Communications, Nano Letters^[3] as well as monographs such as Large Deformation of Materials with Complex Rheological Properties at Normal and High Pressure.^[4] He is the recipient of the 2018 Khan International Award for outstanding contributions to the field of plasticity.^[5]

Education

Levitas earned his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Kiev Polytechnic Institute in 1978, followed by a PHD in Materials Science and Engineering from the Institute for Superhard Materials in 1981. In 1988, he completed a Doctor of Science degree in Continuum Mechanics from the Institute of Electronic Machine Building. Furthermore, in 1995, he obtained his Doctor-Engineer habilitation in Continuum Mechanics from the University of Hannover.^[1]

Career

Levitas commenced his academic journey in 1978 at the Institute for Superhard Materials of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kiev. From 1978 to 1981, he served as an engineer and then as a junior researcher from 1981 to 1984. During his tenure at the institute, he led a research group consisting of researchers and students from 1982 to 1994. Simultaneously, he held the positions of senior researcher from 1984 to 1988 and leading researcher from 1989 to 1994. Additionally, he founded the private research firm, Strength, in 1988. Since 1993 he was a Humboldt Research Fellow at the Institute of Structural and Computational Mechanics at the University of Hannover, serving until 1995. From 1995 to 1999, he continued at the same institution as a research and visiting professor. In 1999, he transitioned to Texas Tech University, where he was an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering until 2002, and then a professor until 2008. He was also the Founding Director of the Center for Mechanochemistry and Synthesis of New Materials from 2002 till 2007. From 2008 to 2017, he served as the Schafer 2050 Challenge Professor in both the Department of Aerospace Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Iowa State University.^[1] Between 2017 and 2023, he was the Vance Coffman Faculty Chair Professor in Aerospace Engineering, and since 2023 the Murray Harpole Chair in Engineering. Moreover, he has been the Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering since 2018, all at the same Departments. In addition, he has served as a faculty scientist at the Ames National Laboratory within the US Department of Energy from 2008 to 2023.^[2]

Since 2002 he has also run the research and consulting firm Material Modeling.^[2]

Research

Levitas' research has focused on the interplay between plasticity and phase transformations across various scales through the creation of various methodologies.^{[6] [7]} He pioneered the field of theoretical high-pressure mechanochemistry^[8] through the development of a comprehensive four-scale theory and simulations^[7] spanning from the first principle^[9] and molecular dynamics^[10] to nano- and microscale phase-field approaches^{[11] [12]} and macroscale treatment.^[13] His work includes coupling theoretical frameworks with quantitative in-situ experiments using synchrotron radiation facilities to investigate phase transformations and plastic flow in various materials under high pressure and large deformations.^{[10] [11]} These efforts resulted in the identification of novel phenomena and phases, methods for controlling phase transformations, and the search for new high-pressure materials. Additionally, his research has contributed to the determination of material properties such as transformational, structural, deformational, and frictional characteristics from high throughput heterogeneous sample fields.^{[14] [15]} His research team discovered and harnessed the phenomenon of "rotational plastic instability" to lower the required pressure for producing superhard cubic BN, reducing it from 55 to 5.6GPa.^[16] In addition, their theoretical insights enabled a reduction in the transformation pressure from graphite to diamond, dropping it from 70 to 0.7GPa through shear-induced plasticity.^[17] Moreover, his team unveiled a new amorphous phase of SiC,^[18] the self-blow-up phase transformation-induced plasticity-heating process explaining deep-focus earthquakes,^[19] the pressure self-focusing effect,^[20] virtual melting at temperatures up to 5000K below melting point as a novel mechanism of solid phase transformation, stress relaxation, and plastic flow.^{[21] [22]} Furthermore, his group introduced a mechanochemical melt dispersion mechanism to explain unusual phenomena in the combustion of Al particles at nano and micro scales, proposing significant advancements in particle synthesis, including the creation of prestressed particles, to enhance their energetic performance.^[23] He also advanced phase field approach to various phase transformations, dislocation evolution, fracture, surface-induced phenomena, and their interaction by introducing advanced mechanics, large-strain formulation, strict requirements, and extending to larger sample scale.^{[6] [11] [12]}

Patents

Levitas holds patents to 11 different inventions. They are mostly related to the development of high-pressure apparatuses for diamond synthesis and physical studies. They include a rotational diamond anvil cell.^[24]

Awards and honors

• 1995 – Distinguished Paper Award, International Journal of Engineering Sciences
• 1998 – Richard von Mises Award, GAMM^[25]
• 2007 – ASME Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers^[26]
• 2010 – Lifetime Achievement Award, International Biographical Centre
• 2011 – Honorary Doctor in Materials, Institute for Superhard Materials
• 2018 – Khan International Award^{[5] [27] [28]}
• 2023 – Member, EU Academy of Sciences
• 2023 – Member, European Academy of Sciences and Arts^[29]
• 2023 – IAAM Fellow, International Association of Advanced Materials^[30]

Bibliography

Books

• Large Deformation of Materials with Complex Rheological Properties at Normal and High Pressure (1996) ISBN 1560720859

Selected articles

• Levitas, V. I. (1998). Thermomechanical theory of martensitic phase transformations in inelastic materials. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 35(9–10), 889–940.
• Mielke, A., Theil, F., & Levitas, V. I. (2002). A Variational Formulation of Rate-Independent Phase Transformations Using an Extremum Principle. Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis, 162, 137–177.
• Levitas, V. I., & Preston, D. L. (2002). Three-dimensional Landau theory for multivariant stress-induced martensitic phase transformations. I. Austenite↔ martensite. Physical Review B, 66(13), 134206.
• Levitas, V. I., Asay, B. W., Son, S. F., & Pantoya, M. (2006). Melt dispersion mechanism for fast reaction of nanothermites. Applied Physics Letters, 89(7) 071909.
• Hsieh S., Bhattacharyya P., Zu C., Mittiga T., Smart T. J., Machado F., Kobrin B., Höhn T. O., Rui N. Z., Kamrani M., Chatterjee S., Choi S., Zaletel M., Struzhkin V. V., Moore J. E., Levitas V. I., Jeanloz R., Yao N. Y. (2019) Imaging stress and magnetism at high pressures using a nanoscale quantum sensor. Science, 366, 1349–1354.
• Levitas V.I. and Samani K. (2011) Size and mechanics effects in surface-induced melting of nanoparticles. Nature Communications, 2, 284.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Valery Levitas – Distinguished Professor [AER E] – External, Faculty – Profile]. Expert Finder.
2. Web site: Iowa State University (via Public) / Iowa State materials researcher elected to European Academy of Sciences and Arts. www.publicnow.com.
3. Web site: Valery Levitas. scholar.google.com.
4. Web site: Large Deformation of Materials with Complex Rheological Properties at Normal and High Pressure.
5. Web site: Khan Plasticity Award – Recipients. sites.google.com.
6. Phase transformations, fracture, and other structural changes in inelastic materials. Valery I.. Levitas. May 1, 2021. International Journal of Plasticity. 140. 102914. ScienceDirect. 10.1016/j.ijplas.2020.102914.
7. High-Pressure Phase Transformations under Severe Plastic Deformation by Torsion in Rotational Anvils. Valery I.. Levitas. March 14, 2019. Materials Transactions. 60. 7. 1294–1301. J-Stage. 10.2320/matertrans.MF201923.
8. Web site: High-pressure mechanochemistry: Conceptual multiscale theory and interpretation of experiments.
9. Lattice Instability during Solid-Solid Structural Transformations under a General Applied Stress Tensor: Example of $\mathrm\text\text\mathrm\ensuremath\mathrm\text\text\mathrm$ with Metallization. Nikolai A.. Zarkevich. Hao. Chen. Valery I.. Levitas. Duane D.. Johnson. October 17, 2018. Physical Review Letters. 121. 16. 165701. APS. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.165701. 1806.00055.
10. Amorphization induced by 60° shuffle dislocation pileup against different grain boundaries in silicon bicrystal under shear. Hao. Chen. Valery I.. Levitas. Liming. Xiong. October 1, 2019. Acta Materialia. 179. 287–295. NASA ADS. 10.1016/j.actamat.2019.08.023. 2019AcMat.179..287C .
11. Phase transformations in nanograin materials under high pressure and plastic shear: nanoscale mechanisms. Valery I.. Levitas. Mahdi. Javanbakht. December 9, 2013. Nanoscale. 6. 1. 162–166. pubs.rsc.org. 10.1039/C3NR05044K. 24213214 . 2013Nanos...6..162L .
12. Scale-Free Modeling of Coupled Evolution of Discrete Dislocation Bands and Multivariant Martensitic Microstructure. Valery I.. Levitas. S. Ehsan. Esfahani. Iman. Ghamarian. November 15, 2018. Physical Review Letters. 121. 20. 205701. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.205701. 30500235 . 2018PhRvL.121t5701L . free.
13. Modeling and simulation of strain-induced phase transformations under compression and torsion in a rotational diamond anvil cell. Valery I.. Levitas. Oleg M.. Zarechnyy. November 23, 2010. Physical Review B. 82. 17. 174124. APS. 10.1103/PhysRevB.82.174124. 2010PhRvB..82q4124L .
14. Tensorial stress-strain fields and large elastoplasticity as well as friction in diamond anvil cell up to 400 GPa. Valery I.. Levitas. Mehdi. Kamrani. Biao. Feng. October 1, 2019. npj Computational Mathematics. 5. 94. 10.1038/s41524-019-0234-8. 2019npjCM...5...94L . free.
15. Tensorial stress-plastic strain fields in α - ω Zr mixture, transformation kinetics, and friction in diamond-anvil cell. Valery I.. Levitas. Achyut. Dhar. K. K.. Pandey. September 23, 2023. Nature Communications. 14. 1. 5955. 10.1038/s41467-023-41680-1. 37741842 . 10517986 . 2212.13000 . 2023NatCo..14.5955L .
16. Low-pressure phase transformation from rhombohedral to cubic BN: Experiment and theory. Valery I.. Levitas. Leonid K.. Shvedov. February 28, 2002. Physical Review B. 65. 10. 104109. APS. 10.1103/PhysRevB.65.104109. 2002PhRvB..65j4109L .
17. Shear driven formation of nano-diamonds at sub-gigapascals and 300 K. Yang. Gao. Yanzhang. Ma. Qi. An. Valery. Levitas. Yanyan. Zhang. Biao. Feng. Jharna. Chaudhuri. William A.. Goddard III. Carbon . May 29, 2018. 146 . 364 . 10.1016/j.carbon.2019.02.012 . 1805.11239. 2019Carbo.146..364G .
18. High-density amorphous phase of silicon carbide obtained under large plastic shear and high pressure. Valery I.. Levitas. Yanzhang. Ma. Emre. Selvi. Jianzhe. Wu. John A.. Patten. February 29, 2012. Physical Review B. 85. 5. 054114. APS. 10.1103/PhysRevB.85.054114. 2012PhRvB..85e4114L .
19. Resolving puzzles of the phase-transformation-based mechanism of the strong deep-focus earthquake. Valery I.. Levitas. October 22, 2022. Nature Communications. 13. 1. 6291. 10.1038/s41467-022-33802-y. 36273002 . 9588062 . 2110.10862 . 2022NatCo..13.6291L .
20. Pressure Self-focusing Effect and Novel Methods for Increasing the Maximum Pressure in Traditional and Rotational Diamond Anvil Cells. Biao. Feng. Valery I.. Levitas. April 21, 2017. Scientific Reports. 7. 1. 45461. 10.1038/srep45461. 28429723 . 2017NatSR...745461F . 5399457.
21. Solid-solid phase transformation via virtual melting significantly below the melting temperature. Valery I.. Levitas. Bryan F.. Henson. Laura B.. Smilowitz. Blaine W.. Asay. June 11, 2004. Physical Review Letters. 92. 23. 235702. PubMed. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.235702. 15245170. 2004PhRvL..92w5702L .
22. Virtual melting as a new mechanism of stress relaxation under high strain rate loading. 2012 . 22847409 . Levitas . V. I. . Ravelo . R. . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 109 . 33 . 13204–13207 . 10.1073/pnas.1203285109 . free . 3421208 . 2012PNAS..10913204L .
23. Mechanochemical mechanism for reaction of aluminium nano- and micrometre-scale particles. Valery I.. Levitas. November 28, 2013. Philosophical Transactions. Series A, Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences. 371. 2003. 20120215. PubMed. 10.1098/rsta.2012.0215. 24146008. 2013RSPTA.37120215L .
24. New automated shear cell with diamond anvils for in situ studies of materials using X-ray diffraction. N. B.. Novikov. L. K.. Shvedov. Yu. N.. Krivosheya. V. I.. Levitas. January 1, 2015. Journal of Superhard Materials. 37. 1. 1–7. Springer Link. 10.3103/S1063457615010013.
25. Web site: Richard-von-Mises Prize – GAMM e.V.. www.gamm.org.
26. Web site: ASME Fellows List.
27. Web site: International Journal of Plasticity | Structural Changes and Plasticity in Materials – In Honor of Professor Valery Levitas | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier. www.sciencedirect.com.
28. Web site: Short bio of Professor Valery I. Levitas.
29. Web site: Members | European Academy of Sciences and Arts. members.euro-acad.eu.
30. Web site: International Association of Advanced Materials – IAAM | Non-Profit Organization. January 16, 2019. IAAM.