Jeffrey R Bunn

Jeffrey R Bunn serves as the lead instrument scientist at the residual stress diffractometer (HIDRA) located at the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. With over 10 years of laboratory experience in non-destructive evaluation, he is recognized as an expert in neutron and x-ray diffraction techniques for residual stress measurements and material characterization.

Dr. Bunn earned his B.S. in Engineering from The University of Tennessee at Martin (2007) and his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (2014). His career at ORNL began in 2006 as an undergraduate intern at the High Temperature Materials Laboratory, where he utilized x-ray and neutron diffraction for strain determination. After completing his doctorate, he returned as a postdoctoral research associate in the Chemical and Engineering Materials Division before being hired permanently as an instrument scientist in 2017.

His research program spans multiple critical areas of materials science:

• Material responses to complex mechanical loadings (biaxial torsion, combined tension and torsion)
• Welding processes and residual stress characterization in joined materials
• Development of advanced data analysis tools for neutron and X-ray data reduction
• Neutron imaging applications for strain, texture and phase analysis in engineering materials

Dr. Bunn's technical expertise encompasses XRD, SAXS, CT-Imaging (neutron and x-ray), SANS, and Radiography, with proficiency in both continuous wavelength and time-of-flight neutron diffractometers. His programming and data analysis skills include Excel, MATLAB, and Python.

His significant contributions to the field have been recognized through multiple prestigious awards:

• National Science Foundation fellow and IGERT Trainee (2009-2014)
• Three-time recipient of the A.F. Davis Silver medal from the American Welding Society (2017, 2019, 2021)
• R&D 100 award winner (2023) for developing Additively Manufactured Thermally Conductive Collimators

Dr. Bunn maintains active professional collaborations with industrial partners and academic institutions, effectively communicating complex scientific concepts to diverse audiences. He is a member of ASM International, the American Welding Society, and the Society of Experimental Mechanics, contributing to the advancement of materials characterization techniques with real-world engineering applications.