Sila Atabay

I am a research officer at NRC-AERO based in Montreal with expertise in additive manufacturing and post processing of metallic materials with skills in advanced microstructural and mechanical characterization of complex multiphase alloy systems along with powder characterization techniques. 
I completed my BSc and MSc degrees from the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department at the Middle East Technical University in Turkey and my PhD degree from the Materials Engineering Department at McGill University in Canada. 
My master thesis focused on joining of precipitation hardenable Al alloys for electronics cooling applications. My PhD research focused on laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) fabrication and characterization of Ni-based superalloys to develop an understanding of their processing, microstructure and property relationships. 
I have authored/co-authored 15 peer reviewed publications. 
Currently I am working with various alloy systems such as Ni-based, Ti-based, steels, high entropy alloys and their processing via different additive manufacturing methods including laser/electron beam PBF and directed energy deposition (DED).

I am currently working as a researcher in the advanced manufacturing technologies center in the aerospace division of the National Research Council Canada (AMTC-NRC). My professional responsibilities include but are not limited to conducting experimental lab work, writing technical reports and peer-reviewed articles, project management, and regular meetings with the clients for review of the projects. My research is focused on the additive manufacturing of metallic materials. I have been working with laser powder bed fusion (additive and/or additive/subtractive), laser powder direct energy deposition, and wire electron beam deposition systems. During my time at NRC, I have worked on the additive processing, postprocessing, and characterization of Ni-based superalloys, titanium alloys, high entropy alloys, and aluminum alloys.

I have completed my bachelor's and master’s degrees in the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering department of Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Tukey. It is the best-ranking technical university in the country in this field. During my MSc, I worked on the diffusion bonding of aluminum alloys. During which I gained a deeper knowledge of alloy design, joining techniques, and physical metallurgy of Al alloys. During this time I also worked as a research and teaching assistant for 3 years in the same department. My duties involved teaching and tutoring lectures and lab sessions, grading and invigilating exams, contributing to the administrative activities assigned by the department, and voluntary outreach work for introducing materials science to high school students. The courses I have assisted with are listed in my attached CV. 

I have completed my Ph.D. in the Mining and Materials Engineering department of McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. My Ph.D. research was focused on laser powder bed (LPBF) additive manufacturing of difficult-to-weld Ni-based superalloys. During this time I had a chance to gain hands-on experience in, powder characterization and handling, designing process parameters and operating LPBF machines using various alloy systems including Ni alloys, refractory alloys, Al alloys, Ti alloys, tool steels, and stainless steels. Additionally, my research was focused on designing post-process heat treatments for the LPBF fabricated parts. I have also worked with the thermodynamic modeling software Thermocalc to predict the phases after LPBF processing and post-processing heat treatments.