Collaborative Research: DMREF: Topologically Designed and Resilient Ultrahigh Temperature Ceramics

合作研究：DMREF：拓扑设计和弹性超高温陶瓷

• 批准号: 2323456
• 负责人: Gregory Thompson
• 金额: $ 73.17万
• 依托单位: University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-10-01 至 2027-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2323456&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; DMREF; Topologically; Designed

Ultrahigh temperature ceramics are a class of materials with exceptionally high melting temperatures. Consequently, they hold great promise for extreme environment applications that include hypersonic flight, nuclear fusion reactors, and concentrated solar power. However, they are brittle at low temperatures, which negatively impacts functionality. Conversely, these materials deform too much at ultrahigh temperatures. Usually, one of these properties can be improved at the expense of the other, making optimization difficult. This Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) project will develop a new method to simultaneously improve both the low temperature and high temperature properties of these materials by devising a means to design and manufacture specific crystal structures and unique microstructures. As part of this research effort, the next generation of scientists and engineers will be trained in a cross-disciplinary manner as they work together to bridge different disciplines. This education will be expanded through an active high school and undergraduate summer program that identifies underserved demographics in STEM. Additionally, this project will educate secondary school teachers about materials science, and specifically ceramics, giving them the toolsets to integrate such information into physics, chemistry, and physical science courses dramatically broadening the impact of the science generated.The overarching goal of this project is to design ultrahigh temperature ceramics that are both resistant to fracture at low temperatures and resilient against creep at high temperature. This will be achieved by designing the ceramic from a bottom-up approach that utilizes the materials’ own natural length scales and chemistry to stabilize low symmetry crystal structures whose elongated shapes fit together creating an interlocked material microstructure. A combination of computational tools, including first principles and machine learning, will be integrated into experimental methods that directly synthesize customized powder morphologies where the structure and property performance is characterized. Through this iterative loop of interactions and outcomes, specific metal and nonmetal species will be identified and designed to promote desired phases with interlocking morphologies. By simultaneously improving toughness and deformation resistance in our ultrahigh temperature ceramics, this research will enable the advancement of technologies for use at extreme environments, while providing unique training for students in a multidisciplinary educational environment.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

超高温陶瓷是一类具有极高熔化温度的材料，在高超音速飞行、核聚变反应堆和聚光太阳能等极端环境应用中具有广阔的前景，但它们在低温下很脆，这会产生负面影响。离线功能，这些材料在超高温下变形太大，通常，其中一种性能的改善会牺牲另一种性能，从而使优化变得困难，“革命性和工程化未来的设计材料”（DMREF）项目将开发一种新的材料。通过设计和制造特定晶体结构和独特微观结构的方法来同时改善这些材料的低温和高温性能作为这项研究工作的一部分，下一代科学家和工程师将接受交叉培训。 - 学科方式，他们共同努力，在不同学科之间建立桥梁。这种教育将通过一个活跃的高中和本科生暑期项目来扩展，该项目将确定 STEM 领域服务不足的人口统计数据。此外，该项目还将对中学教师进行材料科学，特别是陶瓷方面的教育。为他们提供整合此类信息的工具集物理、化学和物理科学课程极大地扩大了所产生的科学的影响。该项目的总体目标是设计既能在低温下抗断裂又能在高温下抗蠕变的超高温陶瓷。这是通过自下而上的方法设计陶瓷来实现的，该方法利用材料自身的自然长度尺度和化学性质来稳定低对称性晶体结构，这些晶体结构的细长形状组合在一起，形成互锁的材料微观结构。计算工具的组合，包括第一原理和机器。学习，将会集成到直接合成定制粉末形态的实验方法中，通过相互作用和结果的迭代循环，将识别和设计特定的金属和非金属物种，以通过同时提高韧性来促进具有互锁形态的所需相。超高温陶瓷的抗变形性和抗变形性，这项研究将反映极端环境下使用技术的进步，同时为学生在多学科教育环境中提供独特的培训。该奖项是 NSF 的法定使命，并被认为值得通过以下方式获得支持：使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。