Interview No.6　MA Tianchang　物質理工学院

My story with Fujii Laboratory of Tokyo Institute of Technology began in the fall of 2019 and ended in the fall of 2022. Although the Covid-19 has taken over my three years on campus, I have secretly saved lots of growth and memory. I love music, gourmets, and sports. During the weekends, I often go to the seaside to bath in the sun and blow the sea breeze, which can calm myself and made me relaxed from the research. Regarding my love to Tokyo Tech, as one of Japan’s top universities, Tokyo Tech always keeps a balanced knowledge of the social sciences and humanities, which can achieve an all-round development of each student.

Research Outline

My research title is: “Cyclic deformation behavior and dislocation structures of multiple-slip-oriented copper single crystals”. We know that metal fatigue occurs in various key engineering components and is known to be regarded as the main factors responsible for the fracture in engineering structures during the cyclic deformation. Therefore, the basic understanding of fatigue behavior of metals is the most important aspect to study the fatigue of metals. Because the cyclic deformation behavior is highly related to the activated slip systems during the deformation, which indicates that it is easily formed in the multiple slip orientations. Therefore, this work was dedicated to investigating the cyclic deformation behavior and dislocation structures of multiple-slip-oriented copper single crystals. In addition, the study on the cyclic deformation behavior, such as the formation of deformation bands, can also provide the understanding of the preferred sites for the initiation and propagation of cracks during the cyclic deformation, which can give an inspiration to avoid the initiation and propagation of cracks of the metals used in the engineering and industry.

The valuable experiences about academic research

Although I completed my master course before I enrolled in Tokyo Tech, I still learned many experiences for academic research in Fujii Laboratory, which influenced me a lot during the three years’ research life in Tokyo Tech. I really appreciate Prof. Fujii and Prof. Miyazawa and all students from Fujii Laboratory for their constant guidance and long-term support. Here, I would like to share three points which inspired me most during the whole doctoral program.

Undoubtedly, the first point I would like to mention is the experimental notebook. I think every student in Tokyo Tech may use this notebook to record the experimental data. Since I entered Fujii Laboratory at the first day, Prof. Fujii and Prof. Miyazawa told me that I need to write everything on this notebook. At that time, to be honest, I think it is a no meaning and time-consuming thing, but I still do as my supervisor suggested. Afterwards, I found it is indeed a thing which deserves to spend time on. With the increasing of my experimental results, it can show all the results clearly and easy to be compared, which can avoid lots of unnecessary procedures. Therefore, I hope you can also form this habit at the beginning of your doctoral program. You will also thank yourself to do so all the time when you do the research.

Next, I would like to say is to make plans every semester, every month, every week even every day. Planning helps us to know what we should do exactly and accountable for what we do. We only have three years for our doctoral program, we must maximize the use of this limited time to complete our program and achieve our goal. Make a detailed plan can also help us to decide how best to use our resources, such as the time, equipment, and information. Therefore, I hope you can make the appropriate plan during your doctoral program. Countless plans make up your life.

Last but not least, we need to report our research progress to our supervisors initiatively and immediately. Discuss our new findings with our supervisors can receive meticulous comments and valuable guidance on time, which can help us to avoid the unnecessary detours and is quite helpful for our continuous research. Therefore, do not be afraid to report and discuss with our supervisors. Their scholarly advice and insightful criticism can enrich your achievements and impel your continuous progress.

Message

It is a quite valuable opportunity for you and me to pursue the doctoral degree in such one of Japan’s top universities. It has responsible academic supervisor, advanced research technologies, friendly international students, precious chances to study abroad, high quality lectures, sufficient financial support as well as different events and facilities. Please enjoy these three years’ research life in Tokyo Tech, which will be the treasure worth to be remembered in your whole life. We will all have bright futures, in various ways.