Planning Grant: I/UCRC for Advanced Composites in Transportation Vehicles (ACTV)

运输车辆先进复合材料I/UCRC的研究将从材料开发到制造工艺改进。将研究多功能纳米复合材料，天然纤维复合材料，极端环境材料和高压釜外复合材料，而多尺度材料建模将捕获不同长度和时间尺度的机制。将研究复合材料的耐久性、损伤容限和断裂行为。材料-产品系统的集成优化将通过分层分解的设计优化方法来实现。损坏诊断和故障诊断旨在实现基于状态的维护，以提高安全性并降低生命周期成本。拟议中的I/UCRC有可能增加先进复合材料结构在航空航天、汽车和海军车辆中的使用，并导致美国工业的增长。 与目前的金属结构相比，通过中心研究取得的进展可以减少车辆重量和降低能耗，并可以改变目前复合材料的设计模式。 中心工作的目标是导致科学和工程专业学生的跨学科和协作培训，在技术会议和档案文献中传播成果，并增加K-12，社区学院和大学生对STEM的接触。

The research of the I/UCRC for Advanced Composites in Transportation Vehicles will span from material development to manufacturing process improvements. Multi-functional nano-composites, natural fiber composites, materials for extreme environments, and out-of-autoclave composites will be investigated while multi-scale material modeling will capture mechanisms at different length and time scales. The durability, damage tolerance, and fracture behavior of composites will be studied. Integrated optimization of material-product systems will be pursued through hierarchically decomposed design optimization methodology. Damage diagnostics and prognostics are intended to enable Condition Based Maintenance for improved safety and reduced life cycle cost. The proposed I/UCRC has the potential to increase the use of advanced composite structures in aerospace, automotive, and naval vehicles and result in U.S. industrial growth. Advances through center research can lead to reduction of vehicle weight and lower energy consumption compared to current metallic structures and could conceivably alter the current design paradigm for composite materials. Center work is targeted to result in the interdisciplinary and collaborative training of science and engineering students, dissemination of results at technical meetings and in the archival literature, and increased exposure of K-12, community college, and university students to STEM.