Dr. Yinglu Tang

• Y.Tang-5@tudelft.nl

• Office number: 61.00.01.030 (on top of the aircraft hall)

Yinglu Tang obtained her BSc at the department of Materials Science and Engineering at Beihang University (previous Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics) in China. She did her bachelor thesis in computational materials at Ecole Nationale Supérieur Arts et Métiers in France. Later she studied for MSc in polymer science and engineering and diplôme d’ingénieur in Mechanical Engineering there. In 2010 She started her PhD at California Institute of Technology in the United States. Her research topic was focused on understanding the electronic structure and phase relations for optimizing Skutterdite thermoelectric material. After her PhD, Yinglu joined the lab of Materials for Energy Conversion at EMPA in Switzerland, where she worked as a postdoctoral scientist in close collaboration with industrial companies to design and manufacture a prototype of thermoelectric generator for automobiles with novel intermetallic materials. Her interest in applied research also lead her to the corporate research center at ABB Switzerland and there she lead projects in electrical contact material research with metal-oxide composites for low-voltage switchgear applications. In 2020, out of her passion for fundamental science and research Yinglu decided to move back to academia and she is now an assistant professor at the department of Aerospace Structures and Materials within the faculty of Aerospace Engineering of Delft University of Technology. Her research focuses on design and optimization of materials for space application, integrating phase diagram assisted defect engineering, transport phenomenon of electrons and phonons, and structural design.

Her core expertise is in the designing of complex intermetallic and ceramic materials using powder metallurgy techniques, phase boundary engineering and high temperature thermal and electronic transport properties analysis. Her research vision is to design novel materials for space applications based on a defect engineering approach. Defects (impurities, secondary phases, voids) are not something to be simply avoided but could be designed and engineered to fulfill specific structural and/or functional purposes. By establishing the relationship between structural chemistry and functional properties through both experimental data and predictive simulations, materials with desired performance for harsh space environment can carry us one step closer towards our space dream.