US-Egypt Cooperative Research: Development of Zn-based syntactic composite foams for high energy absorption applications

该项目支持纽约理工大学Nikhil Gupta博士与埃及赫尔万中央冶金研究与发展研究所Atef Daoud博士的合作研究工作。他们将研究“用于高能量吸收的锌合金基复合泡沫的铸造和表征”。该项目的目标是开发在各种工业应用中有用的轻质和低成本的能量吸收泡沫。这些泡沫将使用飞灰制造，从而在降低成本的同时回收一种工业废物。本研究将致力于开发一种低成本的锌合金复合泡沫塑料的合成方法，表征合成的复合材料在各种加载条件和应用场合下的性能，并研究其失效机理。锌合金的高密度限制了其在一些重要应用中的应用，因此轻质复合泡沫塑料的开发将有助于拓宽这些材料的应用。将飞灰空心微珠用作中空颗粒，将为利用这种工业废物提供一种有价值的机制，并降低复合材料的成本。合成工作将由埃及团队领导，致力于生产含有高体积分数的飞灰微珠(体积分数高达50%)的复合材料。表征将由美国团队领导，将包括材料的压缩、拉伸、振动、冲击和高应变率压缩测试。将对复合泡沫的微观结构进行数值模拟，以获得力学性能的估计。这两个小组拥有互补的专业知识和设施，以帮助确保这种合作的有效性。该项目的主要智力优势包括轻质锌合金复合材料的开发，对锌合金复合材料的力学性能及其应变率敏感性的了解，以及对这些复合材料泡沫失效机理的了解。开发一种低成本的材料，而且足够轻，可以用于许多工业应用，这可能是非常有价值的。该项目的更广泛影响包括通过将两个国家的这两个团队的互补专业知识结合在一起而产生的跨文化交流和智力开发。两个团队对本科生和研究生以及初级科学家的培训将是非常有价值的。美国团队还将把教育部分与研究相结合，在现有合作的基础上开发一个K-12教育视频，两个团队都将确保研究成果的广泛传播。该项目由美国-埃及联合科技基金项目资助。这些合作项目的美方支持由美国国务院提供给美国国家科学基金会。埃及政府为埃及方面的合作提供支持。

This project supports a cooperative research effort by Dr. Nikhil Gupta, Polytechnic University of New York with Dr. Atef Daoud, Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute, Helwan, Egypt. They will study "Casting and Characterizations of Zn alloy Based Composite Foams for High Energy Absorption". The goal of the project is to develop light-weight and low-cost energy absorbing foams that are useful in a variety of industrial applications. These foams will be manufactured using fly ash, thereby recycling an industrial waste material while also reducing cost. The study will focus on developing a low cost synthesis method for Zn-alloy composite foam, characterizing the synthesized composites for a wide variety of loading conditions and applications, and studying the failure mechanisms. The high density of Zn-alloys is a limitation in several significant applications, so the development of lightweight composite foams will help broaden the applications for these materials. The use of fly ash cenospheres as hollow particles will provide a valuable mechanism to use this industrial waste material and also reduce the cost of the composite. The synthesis work will be led by the Egyptian team, working on producing composites containing high volume fraction of fly ash cenospheres (up to 50% in volume). The characterization will be led by the American team and will include compressive, tensile, vibration, impact, and high strain rate compressive testing of materials. Numerical simulations will be conducted on the composite foam microstructure to obtain an estimate of the mechanical properties. Both groups have complementary expertise and facilities to help ensure the effectiveness of this collaboration. The key intellectual merits of the project include development of lightweight Zn-alloy composites, understanding of mechanical properties of Zn-alloy composites and their strain rate sensitivity, and knowledge of failure mechanisms of these composite foams. It is potentially very valuable to develop a low cost material that is also lightweight enough for many industrial applications.This project's broader impacts include the cross cultural exchange and intellectual development produced by bringing the complementary expertise of these two teams from two countries together. The training of undergraduate and graduate students as well as junior scientists on both teams will be very valuable. The U.S. team will also integrate an education component with the research, building upon existing collaborations to develop a k-12 educational video, and both teams will ensure a wide dissemination of the research results. This project is funded through the US-Egypt Joint Science and Technology Fund Program. Support for the U.S. side of these cooperative projects is provided to the National Science Foundation by the U.S. Department of State. The Egyptian Government provides support for the Egyptian side of the collaboration.