Matthew Krane

Professor of Materials Engineering

Dr. Matthew Krane is a member of the Purdue Center for Metal Casting Research and the Purdue Heat Treat Consortium.  His research is on design, development, and modeling of materials processes, particularly the solidification processing of metal alloys.  Research projects include numerical process modeling of vacuum arc and electroslag remelting, direct chill casting, and additive manufacturing, studying the effects of transport phenomena and thermal strain on the formation and prevention of solidification defects. He has also worked on the through-process modeling of industrial wrought aluminum alloy production, from direct chill casting to various heat treat processes. Other projects examine the investment casting of superalloy parts with thin sections, the recrystallization in single crystal castings, the static casting of large steel ingots, the microstructural modeling of dendritic growth, homogenization microstructure development, continuous casting of boron bearing steels, and the prediction of heat transfer in high pressure die casting. Many of these projects include the quantification of uncertainty propagation through the models. 

In addition to consulting, research programs, and senior design projects with the metals processing industry, his industrial experience includes three years working on thermal issues in design and manufacturing of electronics packaging.  Professor Krane’s teaching has included heat transfer, fluid mechanics, process design, solidification, materials processing, numerical methods, extractive metallurgy, and ethics in engineering practice. 

He has written a text, An Introduction to Transport Phenomena in Materials Engineering.

He is part of a team that teaches a solidification short course each summer in Switzerland.

Current research projects: 

(E= experimental, M = modeling, P = includes industrial plant data)

• Study of the development of solidification defects in the VAR process (E, M, P)
• Alloy variations on mushy-zone reactions & defect formation (with Johnson & Gildemeister) (E, M)
• Models and experiments to build a process model of casting steel ingots (E, M)
• Recrystallization of defects in heat treatment of single crystal superalloy castings (with Trumble) (E, M)

Selected past research projects

Education

• B.S., Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, 1986, Cornell University
• M.S.E., Mechanical Engr & Applied Mechanics, 1989, University of Pennsylvania
• Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, 1996, Purdue University

Employment History

• Professor, Materials Engineering, Purdue University, 2015-Present
• Visiting Research Fellow: University of Greenwich/United Kingdom 9-10/2017
• Visiting Research Fellow: Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France 2-4/2017
• Associate Professor, Materials Engineering, Purdue University, 2003-2015
• Visiting Research Fellow: University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, 3-7/2006
• Assistant Professor, Materials Engineering, Purdue University, 1997-2003
• Visiting Assistant Professor, Materials Engineering, Purdue University, 1996-1997
• Hardware Engineer, Digital Equipment Corp., Andover, Massachusetts, 1988-1991
• Engineering Intern, PAI Corporation, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Summer, 1987