Hannah Bausch
Graduate Student, Northwestern University
About
Hannah studies the thermomechanical properties minerals and ceramics under dynamic loading and is developing shock-ramp methods using pulsed-power at Sandia National Laboratories to simulate conditions deep inside planetary interiors. By investigating minerals’ physical and chemical properties at these extreme conditions, we can gain a better understanding of what’s inside planetary objects and how they formed. In her Ph.D. research, she is investigating ferropericlase [(Mg,Fe)O], which is a solid solution with endmembers that have very different physical properties. By studying (Mg,Fe)O using dynamic compression techniques her group aims to answer how the phase diagrams of MgO and FeO merge and how different amounts of iron defects affect material properties at extreme conditions. The answers to these questions are relevant to understanding Large Low Shear Velocity Provinces and Ultra Low Velocity Zones that exist atop the Earth's core-mantle boundary. In addition, the equation of state data will add to the growing thermodynamic database useful for numerous applications in HED physics and stockpile stewardship.