GOALI: Defect Detection Microscopy: Microstructure Design for Formability of Wrought Magnesium Alloys

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This research project will build a framework for the design and manufacture of metal microstructures containing fewer damage-sensitive features, with subsequent improved ductility and formability. An enabling technology, Defect Detection Microscopy (DDM), will be developed in order to detect large numbers of defect sites in deformed polycrystalline materials in reasonable experimental times. Structure parameters (recovered via DDM) in the regions of critical defects will be correlated with defect type to determine robust Failure Initiation Parameters (FIPs). Once these correlations are known, an inverse approach, already developed for microstructure sensitive design of defect insensitive elastic and plastic properties, will be applied to the framework to improve defect-sensitive properties. This work will be undertaken in collaboration with General Motors Research Laboratory, and will focus on improved ductility and formability of magnesium for the manufacture of lightweight automotive structures. The introduction of lightweight materials into the US auto industry is a key national objective that will benefit significantly from this work. Current production methods for fabricating magnesium autobody panels require high temperature processing, preventing the use of magnesium as a viable lightweight alloy for high-volume automobile production. If the aims of this project are met, DDM will not only open the way for cost effective, low temperature, application of magnesium to improve vehicle fuel efficiency in the auto industry, but will also serve as an enabling technology in the study and development of a much broader range of damage-sensitive material applications (such as toughness and fatigue) critical to US industry in general. The proposed interdisciplinary activity also brings together expertise from several traditional fields including mechanical engineering, manufacturing science, engineering design, materials science, and applied mathematics. This will have a significant impact on the development of skilled human resources in emerging science and advanced technology fields.