CREST: Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures.

人们对开发用于各种应用的陶瓷有着浓厚的兴趣，从用作结构部件，到节能的隔热层，再到高性能的电子基板。结构陶瓷具有独特的性能，可以在汽车燃气轮机和低排放高效柴油发动机等先进热机中发挥巨大优势。某些复合材料也被开发用于各种高温应用，如耐磨材料和智能结构应用。智能陶瓷纤维和压电陶瓷贴片传感器可以附着在结构的外表面，也可以直接嵌入到先进复合材料等材料中，以提供复合材料固化的现场测量、结构的健康监测、飞行器上的气动载荷估计等。薄膜氧化物结构，包括高临界温度超导(HTSC)结构和铁电钙钛矿结构，需要用于制造各种传感器和换能器、过滤器和非易失性存储器等电子器件。由于高亮度半导体发光二极管(LED)和波长从红色到紫外线(UV)的注入激光器，这种薄膜III-V氮化物也引起了极大的兴趣。这项建议侧重于以协同方式影响先进结构陶瓷和电子陶瓷材料的基础科学问题。研究团队包括北卡罗来纳A&A&T州立大学(NC A&A；T)、北卡罗来纳州立大学(NCSU)、橡树岭国家实验室(ORNL)和选定的行业合作伙伴。北卡罗来纳州立大学在先进陶瓷材料研究领域与ORNL和NCSU合作多年，并与这些组织一起培养和毕业学生。这项建议涉及使用创新的材料处理方法来制造先进材料和智能结构，从用于薄膜的离子辅助脉冲沉积和等离子体源分子束外延，到用于块体材料的液体渗透和反应合成。人们特别感兴趣的先进材料及其结构包括结构材料(表面工程陶瓷、金属-陶瓷接头、金属-陶瓷复合材料、碳化钨-铝化物复合材料和压电纤维复合材料)和电子材料(高温超导异质结构、压电薄膜结构和宽带隙III-V氮化物异质结构)。该建议书强调材料加工、表征、结构-性能关联、性能测试和所有拟议材料结构的建模，以一种连贯的方式，利用NC A&A；T、NCSU、ORNL和行业合作伙伴的互补技能。该中心将系统地研究各种工艺参数对组织演变和性能的影响。此外，缺陷和界面的原子结构和化学将使用高分辨率的电子显微镜(点到点分辨率为0.18 nm)和STEM-Z对比度(点到点分辨率为0.13 nm)显微镜技术进行研究。上述技术、专业知识和仪器的结合为探索在脉冲激光照射下产生的金属-陶瓷界面以及超导体和半导体异质结构中的界面的性质提供了基础；然后这些将与这些新材料结构的性质和性能相关联。研究生和本科生将在NCA&A；T、NCSU、ORNL和行业合作伙伴的联合监督下进行培训。我们建议建立在现有合作研究和教育项目的基础上，这些项目涉及提案合作伙伴的各种组合(NCA&amp；T-NCSU、NC A&amp；T-ORNL、NCSU-ORNL、NCSU-Kopin、NCA&amp；T-Numbers Industries等)。针对当地社区的强有力的外展努力也将是该中心活动的一部分。

There is a keen interest in developing ceramics for a variety of applications ranging from use as structural components, to energy-efficient thermal barriers, to high- performance electronic substrates. Structural ceramics have unique properties that can be used to great advantage in advanced heat engines, such as automotive gas turbines, and low-emission high-efficiency diesel engines. Certain composites are also being developed for various high- temperature applications such as wear resistant materials and smart structure application. Smart ceramic fibers and piezoceramic patch sensors may be attached to the external surfaces of structures, or directly embedded within materials such as advanced composites, to provide in-situ measurements of composite curing, health monitoring of structures, estimating aerodynamic loads on flight vehicles, etc. Thin film oxide-based structures, including high- critical temperature superconductor (HTSC) structures and ferroelectric perovskites, are needed for fabrication of electronic devices such as various sensors and transducers, filters and nonvolatile memories. This film III-V nitrides have also generated tremendous interest because of high- brightness semiconductor light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and injection lasers with wavelengths ranging from red to ultraviolet (UV). This proposal focuses on basic science issues affecting both advanced structural ceramics and electronic ceramic materials in a synergistic manner. The research team includes North Carolina A&T State University (NC A&T), North Carolina State University (NCSU), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and selected industrial partners. NC A&T State University has been associated with both ORNL and NCSU for many years in the advanced ceramic materials research area, and has trained and graduated students together with these organizations. This proposal addresses the fabrication of advanced materials and smart structures using innovative materials proce ssing methods ranging from ion-assisted pulsed deposition and plasma-source molecular beam epitaxy for thin films, to liquid infiltration and reaction synthesis for bulk materials. The advanced materials and their structures of particular interest include structural (surface engineered ceramics, metal-ceramic joints, metal-ceramic composites, tungsten carbide-aluminide composites, and piezofiber composites), and electronic (high-Tc superconductor heterostructures, piezoelectric thin film structures, and wide-bandgap III-V nitride heterostructures) materials. The proposal emphasizes materials processing, characterization, structure-property correlations, performance testing, and modeling for all the proposed materials structures in a coherent way, utilizing complementary skills at NC A&T, NCSU, ORNL, and industry partners. The Center will systematically investigate the influence of various processing parameters on microstructure evolution and properties. Additionally, the atomic structure and chemistry of defects and interfaces will be investigated using high resolution TEM (with 0.18 nm point- to-point resolution) and STEM-Z contrast (with point-to- point resolution 0.13 nm) microscopy techniques. The above combination of techniques, expertise and instrumentation affords the exploration of the nature of metal-ceramic interfaces produced under pulsed laser irradiation, and of interfaces in superconductor and semiconductor heterostructures; and these will then be correlated with properties and performance of these novel materials structures. Graduate and undergraduate students will be trained under the joint supervision of NCA&T, NCSU, ORNL and industry partners. We propose to build upon existing collaborative research and education programs involving various combinations of the proposal partners (NCA&T-NCSU, NC A&T-ORNL, NCSU-ORNL, NCSU-Kopin, NCA&T-numerous industries, etc.). Strong outreach efforts targeted towards the local community will also be a pa rt of this center activity.