MRI: Acquisition of an X-Ray Computed Tomography System at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for Advancing Multidisciplinary Research and Education in the Great Plains Region

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This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award supports the acquisition of an X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) instrument at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) to enable new fundamental research on next-generation manufactured components. Quality components that embody the latest advances in materials and manufacturing are essential to state- of-the-art products from aerospace to infrastructure and biomedical devices. Researchers will use the XCT to develop new understanding of what causes flaws and voids in components--enabling the design of higher performing, more reliable products. This award directly benefits materials engineering research conducted by more than 100 faculty, staff researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students at UNL. More than a third of the students involved in this research are from underrepresented groups. The instrument will be placed in a facility that provides access to academic and industrial researchers across the Great Plains region. The XCT will catalyze new multidisciplinary research at UNL and beyond, strengthen UNL collaborations with partner minority-serving institutions, and stimulate interest among students from underrepresented groups to pursue graduate study and careers in engineering. To understand, model, and exploit the promise of cutting-edge manufacturing processes, researchers need information on a component?s external and internal geometry, surface characteristics, and the presence of flaws, such as voids. The XCT is critical because it allows nondestructive analysis of the functional and safety-critical aspects of a sample. Researchers at UNL and its partners will use the XCT to provide fundamental insight into the 3D internal and external structure of a wide range of organic and inorganic materials from centimeter to micrometer scales. The information obtained from the XCT analysis will advance understanding of the process-structure relationship in several multi-disciplinary domains, including 1) additive manufacturing for which the process-material interactions during manufacturing are studied with respect to the quality of the final part, 2) material science for laser-engineered functionalized surfaces for which surface characteristics from laser-processing are quantified relative to their impact on phenomena such as hydrophobicity and anti-icing, and 3) materials for next-generation infrastructure for which structural components made from concrete and steel are studied with respect to their aging and sustainable manufacturing.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.