Characterization and Modeling of New Nanocomposite Materials Termed Covetics

该奖项的研究目标是研究一种名为Covetics的新型纳米复合材料，并将它们的行为与各自的基材进行比较。这种纳米复合材料由金属基质和碳纳米薄膜以一种新的方式与金属结合而成。碳-金属键很强，在重熔、激光烧蚀或磁控溅射过程中碳不会析出。初步结果表明，这些材料表现出一些传统金属所没有的独特的结构特征和变形行为，并具有优于母材的性能。然而，缺乏对这些材料的基础知识。伊利诺伊大学香槟分校和Third Millennium Metals，LLC之间拟议的大学-产业合作项目将涉及对这些材料的结构和成分以及机械、热和电气性能的多尺度实验研究。这些将作为对这些新发现的材料进行多尺度建模的输入和验证。如果成功，这些研究将导致对这些新材料的基本了解，将促进对旋涡的进一步研究，并促进从科学发现到商业和应用的过渡，包括能源、热管理、交通和环境。这项拟议的研究可能会导致关于材料结构、结合和/或新的变形机制的新发现。所获得的知识将导致对纳米复合材料性能的更准确预测，新材料？设计，以及更可靠的结构，总的来说。教育计划的重点是课程开发和将这项研究的结果纳入现有的教材课程。结果将被公布，课程笔记将发布在NSF NanoHub网站上。

The research objective of this award is to study, a new class of nanocomposite materials termed covetics, and compare their behavior to their respective base materials. The nanocomposites consist of a metal matrix and carbon nanofillers which are combined with metal in a new way. The carbon-metal bond is strong and the carbon does not separate out during remelting, laser ablasion or magnetron sputtering. Preliminary results have shown that these materials exhibit some unique structural features and deformation behaviors not seen in traditional metals, and have superior properties to the base metals. However, fundamental knowledge of these materials is lacking. The proposed university-industry collaborative project between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Third Millennium Metals, LLC will address the multi-scale experimental study of the structure and composition, and mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of these materials. These will serve as inputs and validation for multi-scale modeling of these newly discovered materials.If successful, these studies would lead to a fundamental understanding of these new materials, would stimulate further research on covetics, and facilitate a transition from scientific discovery to commercialization and applications including energy, thermal management, transportation, and environment. The proposed research may potentially lead to new discoveries regarding material structure, bonding, and/or new deformation mechanisms. The knowledge gained would lead to more accurate predictions of properties of nanocomposites, new materials? designs, and more reliable structures, in general. The educational plan focuses on course development and incorporation of findings of this research into existing courses on materials. The results will be published and course notes will be posted on the NSF NanoHub website.