Professor Dr. ir. Jilt Sietsma

Jilt Sietsma (b. 1956) is a physical metallurgist with specific research interest in microstructural development in metallic materials, holding extensive experience in advanced experimental techniques and modelling on atomistic and microstructural scale. In 1987, he received his PhD in Metals Science at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Since then, he authored more than 200 scientific papers published in international journals, and supervised over 20 PhD and 50 MSc students. He is currently a full professor at Delft University of Technology in the field of Metals Processing and Microstructures, as well as guest professor at Ghent University (Belgium). He also performs the scientific coordination of the research cluster “Microstructure Control during Metals Processing“ within the Dutch Materials innovation institute M2i.

Presentation

Searching the extremes of steel applicability

Enormous progress has been made in the past decades in understanding the structure and behaviour of metals, and as a consequence important improvement of properties and performance has been accomplished. Nevertheless, further technological developments, for which the performance of metals in extreme conditions of temperature, corrosion, fatigue, radiation etc. is required, necessitate stretching the application of metals, and specifically steel as most the versatile metal, to the limits. Limited availability of certain elements requires an even more fundamental approach to this challenge.