MRI: Acquisition of High-Resolution X-Ray Computed Tomography System for Real-Time, In Situ Studies of Various Effects on Microstructure of Materials

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This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award supports the acquisition of a high-resolution, four-dimensional (4D) X-Ray Computed Tomography (XCT) system to enable a broad range of fundamental materials research. The knowledge gained will enable advances in the design of novel and high-performance materials – leading to smart and more resilient structures, better medical treatments, and to enhanced energy efficiency. The XCT system will also support education, training, and outreach activities at Missouri S&T and partner institutions, including historically black Lincoln University and Tuskegee University. These activities include training of K-12 students and teachers, integration of the instrumentation into courses and interdisciplinary training and mentoring of graduate and undergraduate students, including individuals from underrepresented minorities at the partner institutions. Features of a material’s microstructure dictate its performance (e.g., mechanical and transport properties). Any external or internal stimulus that imparts changes to microstructure of a material – for example, mechanical load, or chemical reaction – invariably causes its properties to change. Knowledge of such intrinsic microstructure-property links in materials can reveal the origins of the materials’ physicochemical behavior, which can subsequently be capitalized on to optimize their performance. The XCT system – owing to its ability to perform in-situ, real-time characterization of 3D microstructure of materials of various types – will advance research in many areas relevant to design of new materials (e.g., novel cementitious materials; and shape memory alloys), and optimization of performance of prevailing materials (e.g., glasses and ceramics; biomaterials for tissue repair; digitally-fabricated materials; and energy storage-and-conversion materials). With such capabilities, the XCT system will empower the pursuit of high-risk-high-reward research – for instance, to study how mechanical/thermal loads or undesired reactions lead to initiation and propagation of microcracks in a heterogeneous porous material, and to what extent the cracks will affect the material’s transport properties. Significantly, the XCT system will facilitate research geared towards revealing microstructure-property links, and bridging fundamental knowledge-gaps in: characterizing the early stage reactions and microstructure developments in novel CO2-efficient cementitious binders; modeling the development of porosity, lack of fusion, and other defects in additively-manufactured metallic parts; fabricating bespoke components of nickel-titanium shape memory alloys for stiffness-matched biomedical applications, precision force actuators, and energy absorbers; elucidating the deteriorative reactions and transport phenomena in nuclear waste glass surface alteration layer; developing oxygen reactive polymer nanoparticle-based therapeutics to treat traumatic brain injury; and revealing the fundamental relationship between 3D internal microstructural network (with sub-micron resolution) of lithium-ion battery electrodes and the transport of ions and electrons, and correspondingly the battery’s performance.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.