Sarah Whipkey, Ph.D. Associate | Materials & Corrosion Engineering 1075 Worcester St. | Natick, MA 01760 (503) 903-4632 tel | [email protected]
Professional Profile Dr. Whipkey is a materials engineer who specializes in the processing and properties of ceramics and glasses. She has developed specific expertise in powder characterization, ceramic and glass manufacturing techniques, ceramography and statistical experimental design. Through her work, she has developed a deep understanding of industrial ceramic processing methods and the wide range of their applications, from advanced technical ceramics to traditional whitewares. Dr. Whipkey has experience with the manufacturing of display glass for electronic products, including glass melting and forming methods and glass/refractory interactions. She has additionally worked on heat treatment process development and failure analysis of metal components for automotive engines, processing and mechanical behavior of particle reinforced polymer composites, and thermal properties of ceramics, glasses, and polymers.
During her graduate work, Dr. Whipkey investigated processing-property relationships of liquid phase sintered oxide ceramics for industrial applications, such as high voltage electrical insulators, spark plugs, and refractories. She has developed expertise in ceramic microstructure evolution during sintering, etching of ceramics, viscometry, and powder characterization methods (surface area analysis, particle size characterization, pycnometry, etc.). She has developed skills with various materials characterization techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), electron microprobe analysis (EMPA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and a variety of other mechanical testing methods. Dr. Whipkey has also taught and directed undergraduate ceramic processing laboratory courses at Alfred University.
Academic Credentials & Professional Honors Ph.D., Ceramics, Alfred University, 2020
B.S., Materials Science and Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2015
State University of New York Graduate Diversity Fellowship, 2017-2020
The Refractories Institute Scholarship, 2018
State University of New York Doctoral Diversity Fellowship in STEM, 2016-2017
Sarah Whipkey, Ph.D. 08/20 | Page 1 Professional Affiliations The American Ceramic Society (ACerS)
The Minerals, Metals, & Materials Society (TMS)
Publications Whipkey, S, Roman, C, Seay, K, "Processing and characterization techniques for a mica filled polymer composite" Journal of Undergraduate Materials Research, 5, 54-58 (2016).
Presentations
Whipkey, S, Carty, W, "Investigating the dependence of microstructure evolution during liquid phase sintering on grain boundary chemistry in Al2O3." Oral presentation, Materials Science & Technology Conference (MS&T), Portland, OR, Sep 2019.
Whipkey, S, Carty, W "Investigating the grain growth kinetics of Al2O3 during liquid phase sintering in the CaO-Al2O3-SiO2 system." Oral presentation, Materials Science & Technology Conference (MS&T), Portland, OR, Sep 2019.
Whipkey, S, Decker, L, Carty, W, "Elimination of ceramic powder agglomerates for improved microstructures," Oral presentation, Materials Science & Technology Conference (MS&T), Columbus, OH, Oct 2018.
Whipkey, S, Lee, H, Carty, W, "Etching of polycrystalline alumina," Oral presentation, Materials Science & Technology Conference (MS&T), Columbus, OH, Oct 2018.
Whipkey, S, Carty, W, "Densification and grain growth of alumina in the presence of a liquid phase," Oral presentation, Materials Science & Technology Conference (MS&T), Pittsburgh, PA, Oct 2017.
Sarah Whipkey, Ph.D. 08/20 | Page 2