Donald A. Shockey
Director
SRI Center for Fracture Physics

Dr. Donald A. Shockey is an internationally recognized expert in fracture of materials and structures, and an authority on failure under impact and explosive loads. In his 35 years at SRI, he has directed more than 300 projects for government and industry, and is currently leading problem-solving efforts associated with

• The space shuttle: Quantifying the failure kinetics of explosive nuts that release the shuttle from the mobile launch platform at launch.

• Stents for peripheral arteries: Devising mechanical tests that mimic loads imposed by blood vessels to enable design of fracture-resistant stents.

• Failure analysis: Determining root cause of industrial accidents and providing expert testimony (Port Neal ammonium nitride plant explosion).

• Solder joint reliability: Understanding, measuring, and modeling fatigue crack initiation and propagation in electronic components.

• Failure prognostics: Developing and applying advanced fractographic methods to quantify the role of microstructural features on crack nucleation and growth.

• Ceramic armor: Ballistic testing and modeling to develop new designs for body and vehicle armor.

Dr. Shockey joined SRI in 1971 after earning a doctorate in Materials Science at Carnegie Mellon University and completing a three-year post-doctoral appointment at the Ernst-Mach Institut and the Institut fur Werkstoffmechanik in Germany. His special research interests are high strain-rate failure and the role of microstructure on crack initiation and growth.

Dr. Shockey has published more than 120 journal articles, holds several patents, and serves on the NASA panel of Materials Experts. He is an Institute Fellow, a Fellow of American Society for Metals (ASM) International, recipient of the John S. Rinehart Award for pioneering work in the field of dynamic fracture for 2000, and was awarded the 2006 Murray Medal for excellence in experimental mechanics.

A long-time ski patroller, he enjoys winter mountaineering, backpacking, and ocean diving.

Contact Dr. Shockey at:
PHONE: (650) 859-2587
donald.shockey@sri.com