Multiscale Optimization of Materials

新型结构材料的开发是清洁能源转型的关键组成部分。这些材料用于提高汽车的燃油效率和改善基础设施的耐久性。这些需求刺激了传统材料的不断改进，以及新型材料的出现。与此同时，计算机科学和过程自动化的进步也带来了增材制造和机器学习领域的突破。这些趋势的融合为同时优化组件设计以及材料的组成、加工和结构创造了前所未有的机会。多尺度材料优化解决了材料工程领域的两个关键挑战。首先是需要了解新兴合金日益复杂的微观结构，这些结构往往远未达到平衡。第二是开发新的方法，通过这种方法，有意地将非均质性引入材料中，以获得使用“均匀”微观结构无法获得的性能组合。更具体地说，该项目将探索如何克服两个限制，这两个限制将很快限制汽车行业的轻量化潜力。首先，薄钢板的有限刚度将通过使用创新的表面合金化工艺开发高模量钢来解决。这种独特的工艺将用高模量陶瓷颗粒加强表层，而不会影响板材核心材料的延展性。其次，利用新开发的沉淀工艺，将提高传统铝合金停滞不前的轻量化潜力。这种新工艺利用了循环变形产生的非平衡条件，从而显著提高了铝合金的强度和延展性。该研究项目还将通过蜂窝结构探索新型吸能材料的开发，这种结构已经针对空间和航空航天工业中特定的质量敏感应用进行了优化。将在这些结构中引入缺陷，以控制材料变形和吸收能量的方式。该项目将在加拿大电子显微镜研究中心和汽车材料与腐蚀研究中心培养2名硕士研究生、2名博士研究生和1名博士后。学员还将使用CanmetMATERIALS和欧洲同步加速器的国内和国际设施。HQP将在微观结构建模、结构-性能关系和合金设计领域获得先进的技能。这些技能在钢铁、铝、汽车和航空航天工业中受到高度追捧，因为这些行业希望加速新材料的开发和采用。

The development of novel structural materials is a key component of the clean energy transformation. These materials are needed to increase the fuel efficiency of automobiles and to improve the durability of infrastructure. These needs have stimulated continued improvement of traditional materials, as well as, the emergence of new classes of materials. In parallel, advances in computer science and process automation have led to breakthroughs in the areas of additive manufacturing and machine learning.  The convergence of these trends creates unprecedented opportunities to simultaneous optimize the design of components, as well as, the composition, processing and architecture of materials. Multiscale Materials Optimization addresses two key challenges in the area of materials engineering. The first is the need to understand the increasingly more complex microstructures of emerging alloys, which are often far from equilibrium. The second is to develop novel approaches, by which, heterogeneity is intentionally introduced into the material in order to obtain combinations of properties that could not be attained using "uniform" microstructures. More specifically, the program will explore ways of overcoming two constraints that would soon limit the potential for light weighting in the automotive industry. First, the limited stiffness of thin steel panels will be addressed by developing high modulus steels using an innovative surface alloying process. This unique process will reinforce the surface layer with high modulus ceramic particles, without compromising the ductility of the material at the core of the sheet.  Secondly, the stagnating light weighting potential of traditional aluminum alloys will be enhanced by exploiting a recently developed precipitation process.  This novel process takes advantage of the non-equilibrium conditions created by cyclic deformation leading to significant increases in the strength and ductility of aluminum alloys. The research program will also explore the development of novel energy absorbing materials through the use of honeycomb structures that have been optimized for specific mass-sensitive applications in the space and aerospace industries. Defects will be introduced into these structures to control the way in which the material deforms and absorbs energy. The program will train 2 M.Sc. students, 2 Ph.D. students and 1 post doctoral fellows at the state-of-the-art facilities of the Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy and the Centre for Automotive Materials and Corrosion. The trainees will also use national and international facilities at CanmetMATERIALS and the European Synchrotron. The HQP will gain an advanced skillset in the areas of microstructure modelling, structure-property relationships and alloy design.  These skills are highly sought after in the steel, aluminum, automotive and aerospace industries as these sectors look to accelerate the development and adoption of new materials.