DMREF/Collaborative Research: Multi-Scale Fundamental Investigation of Sintering Anisotropy

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This Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) grant is focused on the development of a new integrated multi-scale approach incorporating modeling and experimentation on sintering-induced deformation processes taking into account anisotropy phenomena. Sintering-induced anisotropy, one of the most fundamental aspects of powder processing, is poorly understood and cannot be predicted properly by the existing models and approaches. It is also technologically very important since many powder-processing approaches induce anisotropy. The project includes the study of the complex interplay between processing conditions and anisotropic microstructure-constitutive properties which will provide fundamental, basic knowledge and a novel practical approach to design and optimize the manufacturing of advanced ceramic and metal systems with programmable macroscopic characteristics and microstructure. This research intends to establish a new methodology to optimize the sintering of a broad range of complex material systems including multilayered solid oxide fuel cells. The developed concepts can be used to design the processing of other multilayered material systems (e.g. sensors, actuators, solar cell packaging) or processing under applied stresses (e.g. hot-pressing, sinter-forging). The project also contributes to the general framework of processing approaches which are enhanced by experimentally validated simulations and which significantly accelerate the development of new materials and processes. The teams from the two universities will work closely with collaborators from the industry to continuously test and refine the simulation approaches. Co-PIs will also collaborate with researchers from the Sandia National Laboratories in the development of the multi-scale simulation algorithms. This integrated, collaborative research program provides a unique high quality learning opportunity for students.