NSF-Europe: Solidification Processing and Properties of Advanced Single Crystal Superalloys

这项授予佛罗里达大学的NSF-欧洲奖是为了开发和表征基于镍的大型高温合金单晶。通过与帝国理工学院(英国)和业界[西门子西屋电力公司(奥兰多FL)；太阳能涡轮机(加利福尼亚州圣地亚哥)；普拉特·惠特尼(东哈特福德)]的合作研究，PI将确定在加工和性能中添加钨、Re和Ru等难熔元素的影响机制。此外，还将合金化晶界变质剂，如硼、氦和钴，以提高组织稳定性。将开发加工方法来生产大型单晶高温合金，用于涡轮叶片的潜在应用，这将对发电系统具有技术和科学意义。未来的发电系统将需要大型单晶铸件，这些铸件没有缺陷，能够在比目前的合金更高的温度下运行更长的时间。有了这一奖项，高中生、本科生和研究生将获得更好的教育和研究经验。佛罗里达大学现有和有效的项目将被用来招收和培训包括少数族裔学生和女性在内的多样化的学生群体，这些学生的活动将对材料科学和其他相关学科产生重大的积极影响。让这些学生在很小的时候就参与到科学技术中来，并为他们未来在重要的技术领域就业而进行教育，这将是该奖项的预期结果。

This NSF-Europe award to University of Florida is to develop and characterize large superalloy single crystals based on nickel. With this collaborative research with Imperial College (UK) and industry [Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp. (Orlando FL); Solar Turbines (San Diego, CA); Pratt Whitney (East Hartford)], the PIs will identify mechanisms that underlie the effect of alloying additions of refractory elements such as tungsten, rhenium and ruthenium for processing and properties. In addition, grain boundary modifiers such as Boron and Hafnium, and Cobalt will be alloyed to increase microstructural stability. Processing methods will be developed to produce large single crystal superalloys for potential applications in turbine blades, which would have technological and scientific relevance for power generation systems. Future power generation systems will require large single crystal castings that are defect free and capable of operating at higher temperatures for longer periods of time than current alloys. With this award, enhanced educational and research experience would be available to high school, undergraduate and graduate students. Existing and effective programs operating at University of Florida will be utilized to recruit and train a diverse student body including minority students and women, and activities of these students supported by this award would have a significant positive impact on the materials science and other related disciplines. Getting these students involved at an early age in science and technology, and educating them for future employment in important technological sectors would be an expected outcome of this award.