CAREER: Evolution of Dislocation Microstructures

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9702234 Selinger This is a CAREER award to a new faculty member which combines a research program of computational/theoretical materials science with a teaching program affecting both undergraduate and graduate students. The educational component of this award includes working on a multidisciplinary team to revise the science curriculum for non-science majors (with a particular emphasis on elementary education majors); participating in a project to bring advanced computing into the high school classroom; and, developing original computer-based exercises and active group learning into the standard undergraduate and graduate curriculum. The research component invmlves the study of a previously unknown morphological instability through which dislocations in ductile materials can spontaneously develop disordered structure under the influence of a stress gradient. Molecular dynamics simulations of dislocations in three- dimensional fcc metal crystals will be used as an ideal means of finding quantitative estimates of the parameters in the theoretical analysis, particularly the magnitude of the minimum unstable wavelength under a physically realizable stress gradient. Also to be studied is the role of temperature in the inhomogeneous nucleation of dislocation loops, e.g., at a Frank-Read source, under an externally applied stress. %%% This is a CAREER award to a new faculty member which combines a research program of computational/theoretical materials science with a teaching program affecting both undergraduate and graduate students. The educational component of this award includes working on a multidisciplinary team to revise the science curriculum for non-science majors (with a particular emphasis on elementary education majors); participating in a project to bring advanced computing into the high school classroom; and, developing original computer-based exercises and active group learning into the standard undergraduate and graduate curriculum. The research component involves both theoretical and computational research on the formation and structure of defects in metals which affect their mechanical properties. These studies will not only produce a fundamental understanding of these important effects, but will also practical applications to failure processes in structural metals. ***