MRI: Acquisition of a Biaxial Test System to Advance Research, Education, and Training at Howard University

这项核磁共振奖将提供资金，用于购买双轴测试系统，以加强霍华德大学在材料合成、加工、测试和表征领域的研究、教育和培训。该研究仪器是执行更高容量双轴测试的理想选择，将用于测试和表征各种材料，包括镍基高温合金、铝合金、聚合物基复合材料和纳米复合材料，这些材料目前由国防部、陆军研究办公室、国家科学基金会和波音公司资助。收购双轴测试系统将有助于更现实的材料测试和表征，这将促进对先进材料微观结构与应力/应变梯度之间的复杂相互作用的基本了解，这些相互作用在燃气轮机发动机等安全关键部件的缺口根部区域的形成和扩展。这项工作的结果将(A)提供大量信息和对裂纹萌生和扩展等局部现象的相当深入的了解，以及(B)促进先进材料的更有效的设计和更好的寿命预测，用于航空航天、民用结构和国防部门的各种应用，在这些领域，疲劳是可靠性和设计中的关键问题。该双轴系统还将用于进行广泛的实验测试，以建立对功能化碳纳米管填充环氧纳米复合材料在复杂载荷下的力学性能变化的定量评估。其他将受益于获得所需的双轴测试系统的研究项目包括：i)使用几个创新的改装系统对结构系统进行全面的系统级验证研究；ii)研究接头处复合材料构件中的应力分布，其中的应力分布细节很难使用闭合形式的解进行解析模拟；以及iii)研究表面特性对燃气轮机发动机陶瓷滚动接触疲劳的作用。双轴测试系统将对霍华德大学的研究、教育和培训能力产生更广泛的影响；霍华德大学是全国最大的研究密集型大学，也是全国最大的非裔美国人博士学位在校生产者S。具体地说，通过接触这些要求的研究工具，11名当前的博士/硕士以及机械工程、土木工程和化学系的几名本科生的研究将得到加强。我们与国防和商业部门的合作还将创造一个独特的机会，获得更多的资金机会，使霍华德大学能够培训合格的代表不足的群体。这些设备还将增强霍华德大学S招收、留住和培养社会经济水平低于平均水平的少数民族和贫困学生的能力。这将通过将该项目中的研究活动纳入少数民族科学和工程改进计划(MSEIP)来实现。MSEIP是霍华德大学的一个暑期项目，由美国教育部赞助，旨在为来自少数族裔群体的30名精选高中生提供机会，探索许多令人兴奋的科学和工程教育和研究机会。

This MRI award will provide funds for the acquisition of a biaxial test system to strengthen research, education, and training at Howard University in the area of materials synthesis, processing, testing, and characterization. This research instrumentation is ideal for performing higher-capacity bi-axial tests and will be used to test and characterize various materials including nickel-base super alloys, aluminum alloys, polymer matrix composite, and nanocomposites for current projects funded by the Department of the Defense, Army Research Office, the National Science Foundation, and Boeing. The acquisition of the biaxial test system will facilitate more realistic materials testing and characterization that will advance fundamental understanding of the complex interactions between advanced materials microstructure and stress/strain gradients in the formation and the growth of small cracks at notch root regions in safety critical components such as gas turbine engines. The outcome of this work will (a) provide a great deal of information and considerable insight into local phenomena such as crack initiation and growth, and (b) facilitate more efficient design and better life predictions of advanced materials for various applications in the aerospace, civil structures, and defense sectors where fatigue is a critical issue in reliability and design. The biaxial system will also be used to conduct extensive experimental tests needed to establish a quantitative assessment of the mechanical property change for functionalized carbon nanotube filled epoxy nanocomposites under complex loads. Other research projects that will benefit from the acquisition of the requested biaxial test system include: i) full-scale system-level validation studies of structural systems with several innovative retrofit systems, ii) investigation of stress distributions in composite members at joints, where details of stress distribution are difficult to simulate analytically using closed-form solutions, and iii) investigation of the role of surface characteristics on rolling contact fatigue in ceramics for gas turbine engines. The biaxial test system will have broader impacts on the research, education, and training capabilities of Howard University; the largest HBCU research intensive University in the nation, and also the nation?s largest on-campus producer of African-American PhD degree. Specifically, the research of 11 current PhD/M.S, and several undergraduate students in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Chemistry will be enhanced through exposure to this requested research instrumentation. Our collaboration with the defense and the commercial sectors will also create a unique opportunity for more funding opportunities that will enable the training of well qualified underrepresented groups at Howard University. The equipment will also enhance Howard University?s capability to recruit, retain, and develop minorities and less privileged students with lower than average social-economic. This will be achieved through the integration of the research activities in this project into the Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program (MSEIP). MSEIP is a summer program at Howard University sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education designed to give 30 selected high school students from the minority groups the opportunity to explore many exciting education and research opportunities in science and engineering.