Dynamic Behavior of Pre-Fractured Brittle Materials

了解脆性材料的动态破坏对加拿大的许多行业都很重要，包括用于国防的陶瓷防弹衣，以及用于石油和天然气以及采矿业的岩石爆破和破碎作业。这些应用涉及动态加载条件，涵盖许多类型的陶瓷和岩石。这些材料在加载过程中会表现出不同的行为和失效，这是由它们的微观结构和性能影响的。在这个研究项目中，我们想要了解微观结构和材料性能是如何与动态失效期间激活的机制联系在一起的。该项目的短期目标是开发预断裂脆性材料的抗压强度和破碎预测模型，包括微观结构和机械性能。这将通过一系列的表征、实验和理论任务来完成。最终，我们希望通过控制脆性材料的破坏、强度和破碎来改善加拿大工业中使用的脆性材料的性能。这是通过设计新的先进材料和改进工业工艺来实现的。

Understanding the dynamic failure of brittle materials is important in many Canadian industries, including ceramic body armor used in defense, and blasting and crushing operations of rock used in the oil and gas, and mining industries. These applications involve dynamic loading conditions and cover many types of ceramics and rocks. These materials will behave and fail differently during loading, and this is influenced by their microstructures and properties.In this research program, we want to understand how the microstructure and material properties are linked to mechanisms that are activated during dynamic failure. The short-term objective of the program is to develop predictive models for the compressive strength and fragmentation of pre-fractured brittle materials that incorporate microstructure and mechanical properties. This will be accomplished through a series of characterization, experimental and theoretical tasks. Ultimately, we want to improve the performance of brittle materials used in Canadian industry by controlling their failure, strength, and fragmentation. This is accomplished through the design of new advanced materials and improved industrial processes. Through the next five years, the program will train two PhD students, and one undergraduate student per semester, and we will make contributions to two strategic research areas defined by NSERC: 1. Manufacturing- Material Systems: Insights will be applied to the design of lighter and more effective ceramic materials used for body armor by controlling and optimizing their chemical and physical structures. Modern soldiers carry upwards of 120 lbs in gear and 30 lbs in body armor during missions, which severely burdens their mobility. By developing new materials, we will increase the tactical efficiency of soldiers and, more importantly, save lives. 2. Natural Resources- Optimizing Resource Extraction, Harvesting, and Renewal: Insights will be applied to improving the efficiency of blasting and crushing operations used in the oil and gas, and mining industries. Currently, these operations account for 5% of the world’s electrical energy consumption, and are extremely inefficient with ~1% of the input energy being used to fracture the rock. Through our research, we will be able to improve current industrial processes by identifying more effective operating regimes so as to reduce the amount of energy needed to yield desirable fragmentation outcomes. As a result, this will yield multi-million dollars in economic benefits to Canada, and will reduce our environmental impact. The long-term objective of the program is to establish specializations beyond energy and defense, focusing on Health-related challenges (e.g., effective delivery of X-rays for kidney stone fragmentation).