The ESPark Research Group has been working on the tailor-made design and process optimization of advanced engineering materials and atomic or nano-granular microstructure characterizations using intensive structural analysis techniques. Recently, the group has focused on physics, chemistry and metallurgy related to the amorphous, quasicrystals, nano-crystalline alloys, bulk metallic glasses and their composites, light-weight metals and alloys and autonomous structure tailoring materials. Also the dynamic research on correlation between phase transformation and property changes has attracted attention.
 Especially, bulk metallic glasses are well known for their outstanding mechanical behavior such as high strength, relatively low Young’s modulus and perfectly elastic behavior. However, a big disadvantage is the inhomogeneous deformation of the bulk metallic glasses at temperatures below the glass transition temperature with the negative consequences of no yielding and strain hardening. The materials fail without appreciable strain. This instability severely restricts applications of BMGs. To solve this problem, various composite microstructures have been pursued with the notion that if these localized shear bands are diffused or arrested within the microstructure, a higher macro-scopic plastic strain can be achieved. However, there is a lack of systematic approach for modulation of secondary phases of in-situ BMG matrix composites. In our lab, we are focusing on enhancing plasticity of Ti-based BMG composite by modulating secondary phases.