Planning Grant, University of Washington: Center for Data-driven High-rate Composites Manufacturing (DH-COM)

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This planning grant aims to establish an IUCRC Center on Data-driven High-rate Composites Manufacturing (DH-COM) at the University of Washington. The vision of the DH-COM center is to act as a vibrant innovation ecosystem of industry, academia and government agencies, establishing manufacturing of the future composites rooted in data-driven and advanced analytics methods, high-rate fabrication technologies, and advanced composite materials. The proposed center addresses an important challenge facing the US industries, especially in aerospace, automotive, defense and energy sectors - the increasing demand for lightweight and high-performance materials. Located in the Pacific Northwest, the proposed center is surrounded by and closely connected with national leaders in aerospace, composites, trucking and data science industries. By developing data-driven high-rate composites manufacturing, the center will support US global competitiveness by enabling: 1) lean and cost-effective manufacturing of complex composites with much less energy consumption, 2) composites to be used in applications that are currently done with other more costly and lower performance materials, 3) recyclable materials and products with much smaller environmental footprint, 4) fast development, testing and implementation of novel composites manufacturing processes, and 5) training and job opportunity for a diverse workforce with advanced composites science and technology knowledge that will become tomorrow’s leaders in the composites sector.Increasing demand for lightweight and high-performance materials is driving the global composites market to expand at a rapid speed. The primary objective of the proposed center is to address the currently unmet and underserved needs in composites manufacturing, especially those that limit the further expansion and adoption of various high-rate composites manufacturing technologies, and development of low-cost high-performance recyclable composites. Physics-based data-driven methods will be applied to all stages of composites manufacturing to develop an integrated technology from materials development, process control to performance prediction and health monitoring, as well as sustainability. Initial research will be conducted in several key areas including high-rate manufacturing, surface and interface science, physics-informed data-enabled closed-loop manufacturing, and cradle-to-cradle simulation. The proposed research will enable significant science discoveries and technology advancement, such as improved understanding of the complex material behavior under extreme conditions in the high-rate manufacturing processes; development and implementation of eco-friendly and recyclable composites; novel multifunctional coatings with superior resistance against ultra-violet degradation, corrosion, and thermal fatigue; and in-situ monitoring/sensing, active-control and multiscale multi-physics simulation tools for understanding the effect of processing defects and service degradations on composites failure and performance of reprocessed materials.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.