Directory Record for:

Mirna Urquidi-Macdonald

Title(s):

Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics

Department:

Engineering Science and Mechanics

College/Admin. Unit:

College of Engineering

Office Address:

212 Earth-Engineering Sciences Building

University Park, PA 16802

Office Phone:

(814) 863-4217

Office Fax:

(814) 863-7967

E-Mail Address:

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Research Synopsis:

Deterministic and soft computing modeling of materials systems including aging process, corrosion process, and batteries; lithium/water fuel cells; corrosion detection of underground pipelines; electrochemical potential of nuclear reactors; radiation fields; life prediction of primary and secondary batteries; use of neural network pattern recognition in the analysis of materials data.

Technologies Impacted by Research:

Degradation occurs with time, and is accelerated when subjected to aggressive environments. Degradation is a difficult problem, which may include many variables that rely on data. Material and human degradation can be modeled using similar methodologies. Corrosion is a critical aspect of material degradation, and batteries can be viewed as systems for which degradation is controlled, with the sub-product of that degradation being energy.

Selected Publications:

M. Urquidi-Macdonald and N.A. Bomberger. Predicting failure of secondary batteries. Journal of Power Sources, 74:87-98, (1998).
M. Urquidi-Macdonald and D.D. Macdonald. Prediction of radiation fields in pressurized nuclear reactors. Passivity and its Breakdown (Ed. P.M. Natesham, et al), Proceedings of the International Electrochemical Society Meeting, Paris, France, 97-26:91-99, (Oct 31-Sept 5, 1997).
M. Urquidi-Macdonald, J. Flores, D.D. Macdonald, O. Pensado and D. VanVoorhis. Lithium/water system primary batteries. Electrochemical Acta, 43(19-20):3069-3077, (1998).