Tao Zhou

Education background:

• 2015.09-2019.12, Doctor of Philosophy, Engineering Materials Science, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.
• 2015.09-2017.06, PhD exchange, Engineering Materials Science, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.
• 2012.09-2018.06, Doctor of Philosophy (Joint master-doctoral programme), Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, China.

Previous/Current employment:

• 2023-01-01 to present, Senior researcher, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
• 2025-10-01 to 2026-09-30 Industrial mobility (15%), Thermo-Calc AB, Sweden
• 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31, Researcher, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
• 2020-01-01 to 2021-12-31, Postdoctoral researcher, KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Current roles at KTH:

• Senior researcher at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, interconnecting Process-Structure-Property-Performance of sustainable metals through advanced characterization and computational modelling.
• Group leader for Micro-/Nano-structure Characterization at the Unit Hultgren Laboratory for materials characterization, focusing on electron microscopy and atom probe tomography.

Current projects:

My research has been supported by Swedish research council, Vinnova, Jernkontoret, KTH, Carl Tryggers Foundation, Åfosk foundation, Royal Swedish Academy of Science, EU ReMade, Baosteel, STT Foundation, etc.

• Lead a PhD (Rebecka Kärras) project, focusing on high-throughput in situ synchrotron X-ray experiments, within the Vinnova-funded Competence Center NEXT (Neutron and X-ray science for industrial technology transitions).
• Lead a PhD (Oskar Löf) project, focusing on solid-state phase transformation and carbon partitioning in advanced high-strength steels, funded by Baosteel and KTH, in collaboration with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
• Co-lead a PhD (Kaiyang Zeng) project, focusing on development of hydrogen-tolerant high-performance steels, within the program of Green steel for a fossil-free future, funded by EU's just transition fund and Tillväxtverket.
• Lead two EU ReMade-IND projects, in collaborations with Alleima AB and Outokumpu Stainless AB.
• Lead a project in developing a high-througput furnance used for synchrotron X-rays facilities, funded by STT.

Research areas/interests:

I have broad interests in nanoscale precipitation, materials design, advanced characterization, microstructure and property modelling, solid-state phase transformation.

• Precipitation in Fe-based, Ni-based, Al-based alloys, etc.
• Martensite microstructure and martensitic phase transformation.
• Development of hydrogen-tolerant and scrap-tolerant steels.
• Computational materials design of high-performance steels.
• Advanced characterization, including SEM, TEM, APT, synchrotron X-rays, Neutrons.
• Computational thermodynamics and kinetics.
• Structure-propoerty relations of metals.

Large-scale infrastructures:

In addition to laboratory characterization techniques such as SEM, TEM, and APT, I have been working on projects investigating precipitation and microstructure evolution using synchrotron X‑ray and neutron facilities

• P21.2 & P07, PETRA III, DESY, Hamburg, Germany.
• ID31, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France
• D33, Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), Grenoble, France.
• BL14, China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS), Dongguan, China