Fink, Carolin

Biography

Carolin Fink is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Ohio State University (OSU). She started as the first female faculty in the Welding Engineering Program at Ohio State in 2017. She had previously held a postdoc position in the same research group. Fink is engaged in the NSF/IUCRC Manufacturing and Materials Joining Innovation Center (Ma2JIC) as principal investigator and thrust area lead. She is part of the Materials and Manufacturing for Sustainability (M&MS) Discovery Theme program at Ohio State. Her current research sponsors include the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Institute for Materials Research (IMR) at Ohio State, and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Fink serves as the Chair of Admissions for the Graduate Committee in Welding Engineering. She is an Editorial Board member of the Welding in the World Journal, and a member of the Technical Paper Committee (TPC) of the American Welding Society (AWS). Fink serves as reviewer for several scientific journals, is actively involved in technical commissions of the International Institute of Welding (IIW), and develops engineering outreach activities to engage female (high school) students in STEM fields.

Articles about Dr. Fink:

Awards:

2021

Warren F. Savage Memorial Award

 American Welding Society (AWS)
2021 Charles Ellison MacQuigg Award for Outstanding Teaching Engineer's Council of College of Engineering (CoE) at The Ohio State University (OSU)
2016 Henry Granjon Prize, Category B: Materials Behaviour and Weldability International Institute of Welding (IIW)

Expertise

Fink's research interests cover fundamentals of defect formation in welds, weldability evaluation, and alloy development for welding and additive manufacturing. Fink aims to achieve a fundamental understanding of the metallurgical processes, material properties and failure mechanisms in welds and additive manufactured components by experimental testing, advanced materials characterization, and materials modeling. Fink has been the recipient of the Henry Granjon Prize (2016), Category B: Materials Behaviour and Weldability of the International Institute of Welding (IIW) in recognition of her Ph.D. research. She is also a certified International Welding Engineer (IWE). Fink holds a diploma and a doctoral degree (Dr.-Ing., PhD equivalent) in Mechanical Engineering/Welding Engineering from the Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, in Germany.

Research Focus:

  • Weldability and welding metallurgy of metallic materials

  • Fundamentals of degradation and cracking phenomena in welds

  • Metallurgical challenges in dissimilar materials welding and additive manufacturing

Type of Analysis:

  • Weldability testing and evaluation

  • Filler metal development and optimization

  • Thermodynamic and kinetic materials modeling for weld applications

  • Advanced weld microstructure characterization