Michael Tonks

Interim Chair University of Florida

  • Gainesville FL

Michael Tonks's research is focused on understanding the behavior of materials in harsh environments, including in nuclear reactors.

Contact

University of Florida

View more experts managed by University of Florida

View all Experts

Biography

Michael Tonks is the interim chair of the Materials Science and Engineering Department, where he also holds the endowed alumni professorship in Materials Science and Engineering. Prior to joining UF, he served as an assistant professor of nuclear engineering at Penn State and a staff scientist at the Idaho National Laboratory. Michael's research focuses on leveraging mesoscale modeling and simulation results in conjunction with experimental data to investigate the co-evolution of microstructure and properties in materials under extreme conditions. He is also a developer of open-source tools for modeling multiphysics material behavior at the mesoscale using the MOOSE framework.

Areas of Expertise

Materials in harsh environments
Molten salt reactors
Nuclear energy
Nuclear space reactors
Computational materials sciences

Media Appearances

LEGO-loving University of Florida researcher helps fuel Mars mission

The Gainesville Sun  print

2024-08-08

Michael Tonks, the new acting chair of the University of Florida's Department of Materials Science & Engineering, grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico — birthplace of the atomic bomb and a desert hub for top-secret research.

View More

Take Aim: The Five Hottest Problems in Material Engineering

Online Engineering Programs  online

2024-04-01

Materials engineers study, design, and manipulate the properties of materials. Discover five of the hottest research topics in materials engineering through interviews with two renowned professors.

View More

Sintering and Densification in Nuclear Power

Science Trends  online

The nuclear industry needs to constantly improve safety while reducing cost. One way to do this is by improving the manufacturing processes used to make the uranium dioxide (UO2) pellets that fuel our existing reactors.

View More

Social

Articles

4D Observations of the initiation of abnormal grain growth in commercially pure Ni

ScienceDirect

Wang, et al.

2025-07-15

In this study, laboratory-based x-ray diffraction contrast tomography (LabDCT) is employed to non-destructively track the 3D microstructural evolution of high-purity nickel during the onset of AGG at 800 °C.

View more

Elucidating grain boundary energy minimization mechanisms in textured Ca-doped alumina with inclination-dependent Monte Carlo Potts simulations

ScienceDirect

Yang, et al.

2025-04-15

The grain growth behavior of textured Ca-doped alumina is compared to Monte Carlo Potts (MCP) simulations to investigate the effect of anisotropic grain boundary (GB) properties on local boundary migration.

View more

Impact of position and density of nanoscale voids on fracture initiation in iron from phase field fracture simulation

ScienceDirect

Ta, et al.

2025-07-01

In this work, we used phase-field fracture simulations to examine the influence of voids and their distribution on Mode I fracture in Fe.

View more

Media

Powered by