Collaborative Research: Nanoparticle-Enabled Mechanisms for Growth Control in Immiscible Alloys under Regular Cooling

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Immiscible alloys - alloys composed of two elements which do not form compounds - are scientifically important and can offer unusual properties to enable a wide range of applications, such as bearings, superconductors, electrical contacts and switches, and giant magnetoresistive materials. However, it has been a long-standing (over 100 years) challenge to obtain the desired structures in these alloy to achieve the unique properties for applications envisioned. This award supports fundamental research to provide a transformative technology to obtain a uniform dispersion of fine minority phases in immiscible alloys during regular cooling. This work will enable the production of immiscible materials with exciting properties for practical applications. Course modules and teaching materials will be developed to provide undergraduate and graduate students with interdisciplinary training on nanotechnology and nano-metallurgy. The program will aim to attract, retain, and engage students from underrepresented groups. K-12 students and teachers will be exposed to the new technology through outreach activities. Partnerships with companies will facilitate technology transfer to real world. The objectives of this research are to establish fundamental knowledge bases to fully understand and effectively utilize nanoparticle-enabled mechanisms for controlling diffusional and colliding growth of the minority phase to obtain finely dispersed microstructure during regular cooling of immiscible alloys. Four highly interrelated tasks are planned to achieve the objectives. Task 1 is to conduct fundamental study to understand the principle of interfacial assembly of nanoparticles in immiscible alloys. Task 2 will conduct theoretical and experimental studies to understand the nanoparticle-enabled mechanisms of diffusional growth control and coagulation resistance. Task 3 is to characterize the micro/nano structures and properties of the resultant immiscible alloys with and without nanoparticles. Finally, Task 4 seeks to establish the processing/microstructure/ property relationships to guide potential industrial applications. This project will significantly advance the fundamental knowledge for controlling the growth of minority droplets in immiscible alloys to achieve finely dispersed microstructure in matrix even under regular cooling rates by rapid nanoparticle coating. Substantial fundamental insights on nanoparticle assembly in immiscible alloys, diffusion blocking/restriction mechanisms by nanoparticles, nanoparticle-enabled colliding growth control will be obtained. The processing/microstructure/property relationships will be understood and established to enable a rational design of advanced immiscible materials with desired properties for wide applications.