MRSEC: Carnegie Mellon University Materials Research Science and Engineering Center

大多数用于飞机、汽车和计算机等设备的金属和陶瓷材料都是多晶的。换句话说，它们是由许多被晶界结合在一起的微观晶体组成的。人们普遍认为，材料中晶界的类型和它们连接的方式影响着广泛的性能，并最终影响材料的性能和寿命。然而，在大多数情况下，我们预测和控制由晶界控制的材料性质的能力受到我们对网络结构和单个界面行为的不完全了解的严重限制。CMU MRSEC的目标是了解在加工过程中出现的多晶体可量化特征的来源，开发以可预测的方式影响这些特征的策略，并定义可直接与宏观性能和性能相关的微观结构指标。该中心的工具和发现将在一系列实际的材料加工应用中得到应用，为了确保快速实施，我们与政府、行业和国际实验室合作。该中心的主要教育目标是增加少数族裔对材料研究的参与，通过化学、物理和地球科学课程提高高中生对材料科学和工程的认识，为本科生提供有意义的研究经验，并支持跨学科的研究生教育。

Most metallic and ceramic materials used in aircraft, automobiles, and devices such as computers are polycrystalline. In other words, they are made up of many microscopic crystals held together by grain boundaries. It is widely recognized that the types of grain boundaries in a material and the manner in which they are connected affect a wide range of properties and, ultimately, a material's performance and lifetime. In most cases, however, our ability to predict and control the materials properties that are governed by the grain boundaries is severely limited by our incomplete knowledge of the network structure and the behavior of individual interfaces. The CMU MRSEC's goals are to understand the origins of the quantifiable characteristics of polycrystals that arise during processing, to develop strategies for influencing these characteristics in predictable ways, and to define microstructural metrics that can be directly related to macroscopic properties and performance. The Center's tools and findings will have applications in a range of practical materials processing applications and, to insure rapid implementation, we work collaboratively with government, industry, and international laboratories. The Center's major educational goals are to increase the participation of underrepresented minorities in materials research, raise awareness of materials science and engineering among high school students through the curricula used in chemistry, physics, and earth science classes, provide meaningful research experiences for undergraduates, and support interdisciplinary graduate education.