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

不混溶合金——由两种不形成化合物的元素组成的合金——在科学上具有重要意义，可以提供不寻常的特性以实现广泛的应用，例如轴承、超导体、电触点和开关以及巨磁阻材料。然而，在这些合金中获得所需的结构以实现预期应用的独特性能一直是一个长期（超过 100 年）的挑战。该奖项支持基础研究，以提供一种变革性技术，在常规冷却过程中获得不混溶合金中细小的少数相的均匀分散。这项工作将能够生产具有令人兴奋的实际应用性能的不混溶材料。开发课程模块和教材，为本科生和研究生提供纳米技术和纳米冶金的跨学科培训。该计划旨在吸引、保留和吸引来自代表性不足群体的学生。 K-12 学生和教师将通过外展活动接触新技术。与公司的合作将促进技术向现实世界的转移。 本研究的目的是建立基础知识库，以充分理解和有效利用纳米粒子驱动的机制来控制少数相的扩散和碰撞生长，从而在不混溶合金的定期冷却过程中获得精细分散的微观结构。为了实现这些目标，计划开展四项高度相关的任务。任务1是进行基础研究，以了解纳米颗粒在不混溶合金中的界面组装原理。任务 2 将进行理论和实验研究，以了解纳米颗粒的扩散生长控制和抗凝血机制。任务 3 是表征含有和不含纳米颗粒的所得不混溶合金的微/纳米结构和性能。最后，任务 4 寻求建立加工/微观结构/性能关系以指导潜在的工业应用。该项目将显着推进控制不混溶合金中少数液滴生长的基础知识，即使在常规冷却速率下，也可以通过快速纳米颗粒涂层实现基体中精细分散的微观结构。将获得关于不混溶合金中的纳米粒子组装、纳米粒子的扩散阻挡/限制机制、纳米粒子启用的碰撞生长控制的实质性基本见解。将理解和建立加工/微观结构/性能关系，以便能够合理设计具有广泛应用所需性能的先进不混溶材料。

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.