MRI: Acquisition of a Biaxial Test System to Advance Research, Education, and Training at Howard University

该核磁共振奖将为购买双轴测试系统提供资金，以加强霍华德大学在材料合成、加工、测试和表征领域的研究、教育和培训。该研究仪器是执行高容量双轴测试的理想选择，并将用于测试和表征各种材料，包括镍基超级合金、铝合金、聚合物基复合材料和纳米复合材料，用于国防部、陆军研究办公室、国家科学基金会和波音公司资助的当前项目。双轴测试系统的获得将促进更现实的材料测试和表征，这将促进对先进材料微观结构和应力/应变梯度之间复杂相互作用的基本理解，在安全关键部件（如燃气涡轮发动机）的缺口根部区域形成和生长的小裂纹。这项工作的结果将(a)提供大量的信息和对裂纹萌生和扩展等局部现象的深刻见解，以及(b)促进更有效的设计和更好的先进材料的寿命预测，用于航空航天，土木结构和国防部门的各种应用，其中疲劳是可靠性和设计的关键问题。双轴系统还将用于进行大量的实验测试，以建立复杂载荷下功能化碳纳米管填充环氧纳米复合材料力学性能变化的定量评估。其他将受益于所要求的双轴测试系统的研究项目包括：1)采用几种创新改造系统对结构系统进行全尺寸系统级验证研究；2)研究复合材料构件在接头处的应力分布，其中应力分布的细节很难用封闭形式的解进行解析模拟；3)研究表面特性对燃气涡轮发动机陶瓷滚动接触疲劳的作用。双轴测试系统将对霍华德大学的研究、教育和培训能力产生更广泛的影响；全美最大的HBCU研究型大学，也是全美最大的？美国最大的非裔美国博士学位的校园生产者。具体而言，研究了11名在职博士/硕士。S，以及机械工程系，土木工程系和化学系的几名本科生将通过接触该要求的研究仪器而得到提高。我们与国防和商业部门的合作还将创造一个独特的机会，获得更多的资助机会，使霍华德大学能够培训合格的代表性不足的群体。这些设备也将增强霍华德大学的实力。美国有能力招收、留住和培养社会经济水平低于平均水平的少数族裔和弱势学生。这将通过将本项目的研究活动纳入少数民族科学与工程改进计划（MSEIP）来实现。MSEIP是霍华德大学的一个暑期项目，由美国教育部赞助，旨在为30名少数族裔高中生提供探索科学和工程领域许多令人兴奋的教育和研究机会的机会。

This MRI award will provide funds for the acquisition of a biaxial test system to strengthen research, education, and training at Howard University in the area of materials synthesis, processing, testing, and characterization. This research instrumentation is ideal for performing higher-capacity bi-axial tests and will be used to test and characterize various materials including nickel-base super alloys, aluminum alloys, polymer matrix composite, and nanocomposites for current projects funded by the Department of the Defense, Army Research Office, the National Science Foundation, and Boeing. The acquisition of the biaxial test system will facilitate more realistic materials testing and characterization that will advance fundamental understanding of the complex interactions between advanced materials microstructure and stress/strain gradients in the formation and the growth of small cracks at notch root regions in safety critical components such as gas turbine engines. The outcome of this work will (a) provide a great deal of information and considerable insight into local phenomena such as crack initiation and growth, and (b) facilitate more efficient design and better life predictions of advanced materials for various applications in the aerospace, civil structures, and defense sectors where fatigue is a critical issue in reliability and design. The biaxial system will also be used to conduct extensive experimental tests needed to establish a quantitative assessment of the mechanical property change for functionalized carbon nanotube filled epoxy nanocomposites under complex loads. Other research projects that will benefit from the acquisition of the requested biaxial test system include: i) full-scale system-level validation studies of structural systems with several innovative retrofit systems, ii) investigation of stress distributions in composite members at joints, where details of stress distribution are difficult to simulate analytically using closed-form solutions, and iii) investigation of the role of surface characteristics on rolling contact fatigue in ceramics for gas turbine engines. The biaxial test system will have broader impacts on the research, education, and training capabilities of Howard University; the largest HBCU research intensive University in the nation, and also the nation?s largest on-campus producer of African-American PhD degree. Specifically, the research of 11 current PhD/M.S, and several undergraduate students in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Chemistry will be enhanced through exposure to this requested research instrumentation. Our collaboration with the defense and the commercial sectors will also create a unique opportunity for more funding opportunities that will enable the training of well qualified underrepresented groups at Howard University. The equipment will also enhance Howard University?s capability to recruit, retain, and develop minorities and less privileged students with lower than average social-economic. This will be achieved through the integration of the research activities in this project into the Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program (MSEIP). MSEIP is a summer program at Howard University sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education designed to give 30 selected high school students from the minority groups the opportunity to explore many exciting education and research opportunities in science and engineering.