Benjamin Church

Associate Professor, Materials Science & Engineering Department
Director, Advanced Analysis Facility

Dr. Church joined the UW-Milwaukee faculty after graduate school and working for Modine Manufacturing in Racine, Wis. as a technical advisor in the metallurgical lab. His real-world experience brings energy to his research interests, which revolve around energy, efficiency, and manufacturing. He has worked on diverse projects such as welding and brazing, alloys for petrochemical processing, and materials for Li-Ion and Pb-Acid battery systems. A recipient of the College of Engineering & Applied Science “Excellence in Teaching” award in 2012, Dr. Church is active in several professional societies and is the faculty advisor for the UWM Chapter of Material Advantage. For more information about Dr. Church's research, please see his personal website.

Education

PhD, Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004
MS, Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2002
BS, Metallurgical Engineering, Michigan Technological University, 1997

Research Interests

Brazing
Electron microscopy; and x-ray diffraction
Energy storage
High temperature oxidation and corrosion
Novel processing of metals, ceramics, and composites
Physical metallurgy
Thermal analysis of materials
Thermodynamics; processing-structure-property relations

Publications

Google Scholar link

Ortiz, Lizeth, Kao Yang, and Benjamin Church. “Performance of Alumina-Forming Alloys under Coking–Decoking Cycles.” Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, May 28, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.0c00563.
Muralidharan, Govindarajan, Mike Howell, Margarita Petrova, Michael Brady, Yukinori Yamamoto, Roman Pankiw, Don Voke, Tim Wilson, Jim Myers, and Ben Church. “Development of Novel Alloys for Use in Ethylene Cracking Furnaces.” AIChE, 2020. https://aiche.confex.com/aiche/s20/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/590472.
Church, Benjamin. “Capstone Meets Pandemic; Experiences of Students and Mentors Working through the COVID-19 Lockdown.” Virtual: TMS, 2020.
Nezafati, Marjan, Ali Bakhshinejad, Benjamin Church, and Pradeep Rohatgi. “Finite Element Analysis of Particle Pushing During Selective Laser Melting of AlSi10Mg/AlN Composites.” In TMS 2019 148th Annual Meeting & Exhibition Supplemental Proceedings, 339–46. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05861-6_31.
Li, Shengyi, and Benjamin C. Church. “Effects of Sulfate and Nitrate Anions on Aluminum Corrosion in Slightly Alkaline Solution.” Applied Surface Science 440 (May 15, 2018): 861–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2018.01.108.
Church, Benjamin C., and Nidal H. Abu-Zahra. “Improving the Senior Design Experience: A Stepwise Process with Aligned Benefits for Students and Faculty.” JOM 70, no. 8 (August 1, 2018): 1363–65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-018-3018-6.
Wanninayake, Aruna P., Benjamin C. Church, and Nidal Abu-Zahra. “CuO NPs Incorporated Single and Double Junction Polymer Solar Cells.” Int. J. Nanoelectronics and Materials 10, no. 2 (2017): 137–46.
Li, Shengyi, and Benjamin C. Church. “Electrochemical Stability of Aluminum Current Collector in Aqueous Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery Electrolytes.” Journal of Applied Electrochemistry 47, no. 7 (July 1, 2017): 839–53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-017-1081-2.
Church, Benjamin, Elmer A. Prenzlow, Lizeth Ortiz, and James Myers. “Oxidation Kinetics of Cast Alumina-Forming Austenitic Alloys in Steam.” In NACE-2017-9785. New Orleans, LA: NACE International, 2017. https://www.onepetro.org/conference-paper/NACE-2017-9785.
Li, S. Y., and B. C. Church. “Effect of Aqueous-Based Cathode Slurry PH and Immersion Time on Corrosion of Aluminum Current Collector in Lithium-Ion Batteries.” Materials and Corrosion 67, no. 9 (September 1, 2016): 978–87. https://doi.org/10.1002/maco.201608843.
Wanninayake, Aruna P., Subhashini Gunashekar, Shengyi Li, Benjamin C. Church, and Nidal Abu-Zahra. “CuO Nanoparticles Based Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells: Investigations on Morphology and Performance.” Journal of Solar Energy Engineering 137, no. 3 (June 1, 2015): 031016–031016. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4029542.
Wanninayake, Aruna P., Subhashini Gunashekar, Shengyi Li, Benjamin C. Church, and Nidal Abu-Zahra. “Effect of Thermal Annealing on the Power Conversion Efficiency of CuO-Bulk Heterojunction P3HT/ PC70BM Solar Cells.” Journal of Sustainable Energy Engineering 3, no. 2 (November 12, 2015): 107–26. https://doi.org/10.7569/JSEE.2014.629521.
Sheng, Yangping, Christopher R. Fell, Yong Kyu Son, Bernhard M. Metz, Junwei Jiang, and Benjamin C. Church. “Effect of Calendering on Electrode Wettability in Lithium-Ion Batteries.” Energy Storage 2 (2014): 56. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenrg.2014.00056.

Awards, Honors and Societies

College of Engineering & Applied Science “Excellence in Teaching”, 2012
ASM-Milwaukee, Milwaukee Chapter, Hall of Fame Award, 2016
ASM-International, Milwaukee Chapter, Service Award, 2013

Community Involvement

ASM-Milwaukee, Executive board member (2008-Present)
ASM Milwaukee, Chapter Treasurer (2019-Present)