Background

Wyatt is a Deputy Group Leader in the High Performance Materials group. He first worked at LLNL as a student intern in 2001, and returned to the lab in 2010 as a postdoc. He is the SME/POC for lithium materials for the WCI program, and is a key personnel for several projects supporting the manufacture, processing, recycling of materials (LDRD, DOE [Offices of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy; and Fossil Energy], WCI).

Research Interests

• High pressure, high temperature synthesis, sintering, consolidation, melt separation of advanced materials
• Development of ceramics and composites for cutting/grinding, armor, corrosive, ultra-high temperature environments and other harsh service conditions
• Advanced and Additive Manufacturing of novel materials
• Recycling of lithium materials for energy and defense applications
• Electrical, mechanical and transport properties of ceramics, metals, rocks, minerals, melts, fluids

Ph.D., Geological Sciences (Mineral Physics), Arizona State University, Tempe, 2010

M.S., Geological Sciences (Mineral Physics), Arizona State University, Tempe, 2005

B.S., Physics, University of California at Santa Cruz, 2002

• J. C. Cahill, W. L. Du Frane, J. Soderlind, C. K. I. Sio, R. Lu, M. A. Worsley, J. D. Kuntz, 2020. Transformation of Boron Nitride from Cubic to Hexagonal under 1-atm Helium, Diam. Relat. Mater.
• S. Constable, R. Lu, L. A. Stern, W. L. Du Frane, J. J. Roberts, 2020. Laboratory electrical conductivity of marine gas hydrate. Geophys. Res. Lett., doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087645 (Featured on cover).
• S Chandrasekaran, R Lu, R Landingham, JT Cahill, L Thornley, W. L. Du Frane, M. A. Worsley, J. D. Kuntz, 2020. Additive manufacturing of graded B4C-Al cermets with complex shapes, Materials & Design, 108516.
• R. Lu, L. A. Stern, W. L. Du Frane, J. C. Pinkston, J. J. Roberts, S. Constable, 2019. The effect of brine on the electrical properties of methane hydrate, J. Geophys. Res., 124 (11), 10877-10892.
• J. Mora, J. K. Dudoff, B. D. Moran, J. R. DeOtte, W. L. Du Frane, J. D. Kuntz, and A. J. Pascall, 2018. Projection Based Light-Directed Electrophoretic Deposition for Additive Manufacturing, Additive Manufacturing, 22, 330-333.
• R. Lu, D. J. Miller, W. L. Du Frane, S. Chandrasekaran, R. L. Landingham, M. A. Worsley, J. D. Kuntz, 2018. Negative Additive Manufacturing of Complex Shaped Boron Carbides, Journal of Visualized Experiments, e58438.
• R. Lu, S. Chandrasekaran, W. L. Du Frane, R. L. Landingham, M. A. Worsley, and J. D. Kuntz, 2018. Complex shaped boron carbides from negative additive manufacturing, Materials & Design , 148, 8-16, doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2018.03.026.
• D. Novella, B. Jacobsen, P. K. Weber, J. A. Tyburczy, F. J. Ryerson, and W. L. Du Frane, 2017. Hydrogen self-diffusion in single crystal olivine and electrical conductivity of the Earth’s mantle, Scientific Reports, 7, 5344. (I.F. = 4.3) doi:10.1038/s41598-017-05113-6
• P. Roy, W. L. Du Frane, Y. Kanarska, and S. D. C. Walsh, 2016. Numerical and experimental studies of particle settling in real fracture geometries, Rock Mech. Rock Engin.
• W. L. Du Frane, O. Cervantes, G. F. Ellsworth, J. D. Kuntz, 2016. Consolidation of cubic and hexagonal boron nitride composites. Diam. Relat. Mater., 62: 30-41.

• LLNL Director’s S&T Award, NIF High Energy Density Science Campaign, 2020.
• NNSA Defense Programs Awards of Excellence, NIF High Energy Density Science, 2019.
• NNSA Defense Programs Awards of Excellence, Increase to lithium hydride utilization, 2019.
• Physical and Life Sciences Directorate Award, for role in developing NRAP tool set 2018.
• Global Security Directorate Award, for accomplishments in developing NRAP tool set 2018.
• R&D100 Team Award for contributions to multi-lab National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP) that developed a sophisticated software toolset to assess the geological integrity and environmental risk of carbon dioxide storage sites, 2017.
• LLNL Director’s S&T Award, National Risk Assessment Partnership Toolset (NRAP), 2017.
• Best Paper Award 49th US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, San Francisco, CA
• American Rock Mechanics Association, 2015.
• Geothermal Resources Council Best Presentation Award, GRC Annual Meeting, Portland, OR, 2014.
• Physical and Life Sciences Directorate Team Award for Sustained effort in publishing research on the mitigation of greenhouse gases and climate change in peer-reviewed literature - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2013.
• Physical and Life Sciences SPOT Award for Outstanding Research and Best Poster Presentation at Postdoc Poster Symposium - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2011.
• Honors Senior B.S. Thesis in Physics - University of California, Santa Cruz, 2003