Leire Usategui

• Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics
• Professor (Assistant) at University of the Basque Country

Xylotrechus arvicola (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) is a polyphagous xylophagous beetle that is becoming a pest of increasing importance for vineyards in Spain, also because of the wood fungi developing in the galleries excavated by its larvae, which cause a progressive decline of the affected grapevines, until death. Between 1993 and 2015, a...

Intermetallic γ-TiAl based alloys have found applications in the low-pressure turbine of aircraft engines as well as in the turbocharger unit of automotive engines. However, these light-weight alloys must still be improved, through micro-alloying and tailoring the microstructure, to increase their creep resistance and consequently their maximum wor...

The design of the next generation of β-stabilized γ-TiAl based alloys as structural materials for high-temperature applications in aircraft engines requires the precise knowledge of the mobility of defects in the ordered βo phase. To reach this goal a Mo-rich prototype alloy has been specifically produced and investigated. The mobility of defects,...

Advanced intermetallic γ-TiAl based alloys, which solidify via the disordered β phase, such as the TNM⁺ alloy, are considered as most promising candidates for structural applications at high temperatures in aero and automotive industries, where they are applied increasingly. Particularly creep resistant microstructures required for high-temperature...

In the present work we have studied a high temperature Ru-50Nb (at.%) shape memory alloy using a mechanical spectrometer able to work in the temperature range from 473 to 1723K. We have investigated two internal friction peaks, as well as the dynamic modulus variation, linked to the martensitic transformations in the range from 573K to 1473K. In ad...