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

非混溶合金——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，可以提供不同寻常的性能，使其能够广泛应用，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所设想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，以在常规冷却过程中获得非混相合金中细小少数相的均匀分散。这项工作将使生产具有令人兴奋的实际应用性质的非混相材料成为可能。将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。该项目旨在吸引、留住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到新技术。与公司的伙伴关系将促进技术向现实世界的转移。本研究的目的是为充分理解和有效利用纳米颗粒控制少数相扩散和碰撞生长的机制，以获得非混相合金在常规冷却过程中精细分散的微观组织奠定基础。为实现这些目标，计划了四项高度相关的任务。任务1是开展基础研究，了解非混相合金中纳米颗粒界面组装的原理。任务2将进行理论和实验研究，以了解纳米颗粒控制扩散生长和抗凝血的机制。任务3是表征含和不含纳米颗粒的非混相合金的微/纳米结构和性能。最后，任务4试图建立加工/微观结构/性能关系，以指导潜在的工业应用。该项目将为控制非混相合金中少数液滴的生长提供重要的基础知识，从而在常规冷却速率下通过快速纳米颗粒涂层实现基体中精细分散的微观组织。将获得纳米颗粒在非混相合金中的组装，纳米颗粒的扩散阻断/限制机制，纳米颗粒使碰撞生长控制等实质性的基本见解。将理解和建立加工/微观结构/性能关系，以便合理设计具有广泛应用所需性能的先进非混相材料。

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.