Zhao Shen

Zhao Shen started his PhD research with Prof. Lozano-Perez in October 2015 and received his PhD degree in September 2018. During his PhD, Zhao focused on obtaining a mechanistic understanding of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of austenitic alloys in simulated nuclear reactor environment using advanced characterization techniques. Focused ion beam (FIB), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), atom probe tomography (APT), and transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD) were systematically used to analyze surface oxides and SCC crack tips. After his PhD, he stayed in Oxford as a postdoc supervised by Profs S Lozano-Perez and M Moody. His current project is a follow up of his PhD project, further studying the mechanisms controlling SCC with special interest on the role of alloy composition and temperature. In parallel, and in collaboration with SJTU (China), Zhao has started some preliminary research to better understand the mechanisms controlling the oxidation of stainless steels and F-M steels in high-temperature steam by state-of-the-art microscopy. The objective of this study is to identify potential structural materials for the next generation of nuclear reactors.