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Ceramics may be ancient in origin, but they abound in modern-day uses, including in aerospace and nuclear energy. With funding from a newly-announced National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award, Assistant Professor Lin Cheng is exploring new techniques that could spur more widespread use of these versatile materials.
The five year, $550,000 grant will support Cheng as he conducts fundamental research into a single-step additive manufacturing process that utilizes laser-triggered flash sintering (LTFS) to fabricate ceramics with a reduced risk of cracking.
Cracking and defects are a well-known constraint in additive manufacturing of ceramics, due to the extremely high temperatures—often exceeding 2,000° C—used to fabricate these materials. The LTFS-based process. which combines laser heating with electric field in a confined region, could potentially reduce the sintering temperature levels by half.
“We've already verified this process through experiment,” Cheng said. “This will open up a promising new avenue in ceramic printing.”
Much of Cheng’s work will be focused on fleshing out the scientific foundations of the new process, which are still not sufficiently understood. He’ll also be integrating scientific artificial intelligence (Sci-AI) into his research.
Using an LTFS-enabled testbed, he plans to run new experiments focused on various aspects of the process, such as flash-sintering initiation, stability, and microstructure evolution. He’ll also create a multiscale modeling framework that can quantify how manufacturing parameters affect the ceramic microstructure and properties.
The Sci-AI framework being developed by Cheng will integrate real-world data with physics-based models, thus improving prediction accuracy and enabling intelligent process control. Finally, his team will demonstrate manufacturing capability through fabrication and evaluation of complex, high-performance ceramic components.
Introducing High-School Students to the Technology
In addition to supporting this pioneering research, the NSF grant includes an educational component, with Cheng conducting outreach activities at local high schools and offering internships in his lab for high school students. The interns, he said, will
“They’ll be helping to develop AI systems for smart manufacturing,” Cheng said.
A Ph.D. graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Cheng has been with the UMD mechanical engineering faculty since 2024. He previously held a postdoctoral position at Northwestern University.
The CAREER Award is NSF's most prestigious honor for early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in their fields. Other UMD mechanical engineering faculty who have received the award include Avik Dutt, Katrina Groth. Jin-Oh Hahn, Cecilia Huertas-Cerdeira, Johan Larsson, Ryan Sochol, and Eleonora Tubaldi.
April 16, 2026
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