Michel Rappaz
Fields of expertise
Solidification
Casting
Modelling
Microstructures
Alloys
Mission
Advanced solidification processes: laser welding and laser treatment, rapid solidification, direction solidification, Bridgman solidification, investment casting, continuous casting, shape casting, coatings. Numerical simulation of solidification processes by finite element/finite volume methods, modeling of microstructure and defect formation using phase field and granular methods, modeling of solid state transformations. Crystallization and processing of organic substances (plastic crystals, food processing).Biography
After a PhD in solid state physics (1978) at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and a post-doc at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Michel Rappaz joined the Institute of Materials of EPFL in 1981. After two years in an engineering company, he came back to EPFL in 1984 where he was nominated Adjunct Professor in 1990 and Full Professor in 2003. He retired from EPFL in 2015 and is now Emeritus Professor and independent consultant for several industries and research centres. His main interests are in phase transformations and solidification, in particular the coupling of macroscopic aspects of heat and mass transfer with microscopic aspects of microstructure and defect formation. Among his diverse achievements, one can mention in particular the development of cellular automata for grain structure predictions and of granular models for hot tearing formation in castings, the coupling of Finite Element method with microscopic models of nucleation and growth, the application of the phase field method to the understanding of various microstructures, the discovery of quasicrystal mediated-nucleation in alloys, and many other studies both fundamental at the microstructure-defect level and more applied at the level of processes. Some of the software developments have been commercialized by a spin-off company founded by his group in 1991 (Calcom SA), now part of the French company ESI. Michel Rappaz initiated in 1992 an annual postgraduate course on solidification which has been attended by more than 900 participants from all over the world. He is presently collaborating closely with another spin-off company started from his group, Novamet SàrL. Michel Rappaz has received several awards, in particular the Mathewson co-author award (1994) and author award (1997) of the American Mineral, Metals and Materials Society (TMS), the Koerber foundation award jointly with Profs Y. Bréchet and M. Asbby (1996), the Sainte-Claire Deville Medal (1996) and the Grand Medal (2011) from the French Materials Society, the Bruce Chalmers Award of TMS (2002), the Mc Donald Memorial Lecture award of Canada (2005), the FEMS European Materials Gold Medal (2013) and the Brimacombe Prize of TMS (2015). He is a highly-cited author of ISI, a fellow of ASM, IOP and TMS, and has co-authored more than 200 publications and two books.Publications
Selected publications
| J.A. Dantzig and M. Rappaz EPFL-Press, 2009, 560 pages. |
SOLIDIFICATION |
| M. Rappaz, M. Bellet and M. Deville. Translated by R. Snyder Springer Verlag, 2003, 540 pages |
MODELING IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING |
| M. Rappaz, M. Bellet and M. Deville PPUR-EPFL, Lausanne, 1998, 568 pages |
MODELISATION EN SCIENCE ET GENIE DES MATERIAUX |
| Haxhimali T., Karma A., Gonzales F. and Rappaz M. Nature Materials 5 (2006) 660-664 |
ORIENTATION SELECTION IN DENDRITIC EVOLUTION |
| W. J. Boettinger, S.R. Coriell, A.L. Greer, A. Karma, W. Kurz, M. Rappaz and R. Trivedi
Acta Mater. 48 (2000) 43-70 |
SOLIDIFICATION MICROSTRUCTURES: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS, FUTURE DIRECTIONS |
| Rappaz M., Drezet J.-M. and Gremaud M. Met. Mater. Trans. 30A (1999) 449-455 |
A NEW HOT TEARING CRITERION |
| C.A. Gandin and M. Rappaz Acta Mater. 45 (1997) 2187-2195 |
A 3D CELLULAR AUTOMATON ALGORITHM FOR THE PREDICTION OF DENDRITIC GRAIN GROWTH |
| M. Picasso, C.F. Marsden, J.D. Wagni�re, A. Frenk and M. Rappaz Met. Mater. Trans. 25B (1994) 281-291 |
A SIMPLE BUT REALISTIC MODEL FOR LASER CLADDING |
| Rappaz M. and Gandin Ch.-A. Acta. Met. Mater. 41 (1993)345-360 |
PROBABILISTIC MODELING OF MICROSTRUCTURE FORMATION IN SOLIDIFICATION PROCESSES. |
| M. Rappaz, S.A. David, J.M. Vitek and L.A. Boatner Met. Mater Trans. 21A (1990) 1767-1782 |
ANALYSIS OF SOLIDIFICATION MICROSTRUCTURES IN FE-NI-CR SINGLE-CRYSTAL WELDS |
| M. Rappaz Int. Mater. Rev. 34 (1989) 93-123 |
MODELING OF MICROSTRUCTURE FORMATION IN SOLIDIFICATION PROCESSES |
| P. Th�voz, J.-L. Desbiolles and M. Rappaz
Met. Mater. Trans. 20A (1989) 311-322 |
MODELING OF EQUIAXED MICROSTRUCTURE FORMATION IN CASTING |
| M. Rappaz and P. Th�voz Acta Metall. 35 (1987) 1487-1497 |
SOLUTE DIFFUSION-MODEL FOR EQUIAXED DENDRITIC GROWTH |