Michael Kirka

Dr. Michael Kirka is a senior research staff member leading the Deposition Science and Technology group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Kirka directs an interdisciplinary team with expertise in metallurgy, data science, computational materials modeling, and process simulation. By advancing the fundamental understanding of processing science for nickel-based superalloys and refractory metals, his team has significantly expanded the operational capabilities of high-performance additive manufacturing materials. These innovations have enabled the successful hot-fire demonstration of additively manufactured rotating turbine blades for energy generation, the fabrication of tungsten-based materials for fusion plasma exposure, and the deployment of components for evaluation within a commercial nuclear reactor.