MRI: Acquisition of a Nano-characterization System for Engineering and Physics Research and Education

这一重大研究仪器(MRI)奖支持安布里-里德尔航空大学(ERAU)收购最先进的纳米表征系统，以支持智能材料、薄膜和生物材料的基础研究。该项目的研究成果可能会使先进的生物材料用于增强医疗，新型电子和智能材料具有新的功能和提高能源效率。该系统将丰富大学内部和与研发小企业的研究合作，并建立一个渠道，从大量不同种族的研究生和本科生中培养熟练的纳米表征研究人员。纳米技术将通过STEM项目(包括工程、数学和科学女生(GEMS))向K-12学生介绍。通过在代托纳海滩艺术与科学博物馆举行的展览，公众将提高对纳米技术的理解。这项研究基于物理学的方法，许多项目专注于材料和结构在恶劣环境中的行为。该仪器将使研究人员能够将异质生物材料、3D打印智能材料和纳米复合材料的特性映射到它们的微观结构中。该仪器还将能够在相变材料的转变温度开始时对其进行前所未有的同时表征和成像。研究人员将与国家实验室和其他大学的研究人员合作，将高温测量与模拟相结合，以推进薄膜结构稳定性的基础知识。该仪器将为所需的微结构-性能-添加剂制造工艺相关性奠定基础，以建立3D打印厚膜介质和天线和电子产品在恶劣环境下的耐久性。该系统还将帮助建立新型合成动脉移植物和分流管的弹性和粘弹性特性，以确保结构兼容性，实现最佳顺应性，并防止心血管故障。该系统还将提供重要的3D打印介质金属-弹性体复合材料的摩擦学见解，并建立其变形-电流本构行为。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award supports the acquisition of a state-of-the-art nanoscale characterization system to empower basic research in smart materials, thin films, and biomaterials at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU). The project’s research findings may enable advanced bio-materials for enhanced medical treatments, novel electronic and smart materials with new functional capabilities and enhanced energy efficiency. The system will enrich research collaborations—both within the university and with R&D small businesses-- and establish a pipeline of skilled nano-characterization researchers from a large and ethnically-diverse pool of graduate and undergraduate students. Nanotechnology will be introduced to K-12 students through STEM programs including Girls in Engineering Math and Science (GEMS). Public understanding of nanotechnology will be heightened through an exhibit at the Daytona Beach Museum of Arts and Sciences.The research is grounded in a physics- based approach and many of the projects are focused on materials and structures behaviors in harsh environments. The instrumentation will enable researchers to map the properties of heterogeneous biomaterials, 3D printed smart materials, and nanocomposite materials to their microstructure. The instrument will also enable unprecedented simultaneous characterization and imaging of phase-changing materials at the onset of their transition temperatures. The researchers will integrate the high temperature measurements with simulation to advance fundamental knowledge of thin films structural stability -- in collaboration with researchers at the national labs and at other universities. The instrumentation will lay the foundation for needed microstructure-properties- additive manufacturing processing correlations to establish the durability of 3D printed thick-film dielectrics and electric conductors for antennas and electronics under harsh environments. The system will also help establish the elastic and viscoelastic properties of novel synthetic arterial grafts and shunts to ensure structural compatibility, achieve optimal compliance, and prevent cardiovascular malfunction. The system will also provide crucial tribological insights of 3D printed dielectric metal-elastomers composites and establish their deformation-electric current constitutive behavior.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.