EAGER/Collaborative Research: Field-assisted Manufacturing of Metal Matrix Composites with Custom Microstructures

金属基复合材料由至少两种不同的材料组成，其中连续的金属材料与其他材料组合。 将各种类型的材料（例如另一种金属、陶瓷或有机化合物，通常以颗粒和纤维的形式）添加到金属材料中以改变或改善整体材料性质。 然而，用于生产金属基质复合材料的大多数制造方法在控制这些颗粒和纤维方面具有有限的能力，并且通常导致它们的不太理想的分布。 这项EARLY探索性研究资助（EAGER）研究的动机是通过现有的金属基复合材料制造技术创建定制结构的能力有限。该奖项支持使用电磁力控制颗粒和纤维以创建定制复合材料结构的新概念，该结构可以潜在地增强和定制性能。 该项目将有助于加强美国在先进复合材料制造领域的领导地位，并为涉及电磁场控制和屏蔽的各种应用技术做出贡献，如电信、雷达、波导材料、天线、医疗器械和磁存储材料。场辅助复合材料制造（FCM）的创新概念允许通过以下方式构建定制增强结构：（i）由磁屏蔽材料制成的独特设计的掩模层，其可以以微米级分辨率操纵电磁场图案;以及（ii）与冶金处理（自上而下）集成的逐层（自下而上）制造方法，其可以实现对微结构的精细控制，同时有效地构建大型结构。 该研究小组将通过实验来评估掩模图案化的新概念，以在衬底片上排列和定向纳米颗粒/纤维，从而在固结后实现定制设计的微结构，并通过开发一个多物理场数值模型来预测电磁场下的颗粒和纤维取向，从而为FCM奠定基础。

Metal matrix composites consist of at least two distinct materials where a continuous metallic material is combined with other materials. Various types of materials, such as another metal, a ceramic, or an organic compound, typically in the form of particles and fibers, are added to the metallic material to change or improve the overall material properties. Most of the manufacturing methods used for production of metal matrix composites, however, have limited capabilities in controlling these particles and fibers and typically result in a less than ideal distribution of them. This EArly-Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) study is motivated by such limited capabilities in creating custom structures by existing manufacturing techniques for metal matrix composites. This award supports a novel concept of using an electromagnetic force to control the particles and fibers to create custom composite structures that can potentially enhance and tailor the performance. The project will help strengthen US leadership in advanced manufacturing of composite materials and contribute to various application technologies that involve control and shielding of electromagnetic field such as telecommunications, radars, waveguide materials, antennas, medical devices, and magnetic storage materials.The innovative concepts of Field-assisted Composite Manufacturing (FCM) allow construction of custom reinforcement architectures through: (i) a uniquely designed mask layer made of a magnetically shielding material that can manipulate electromagnetic field patterns in microscale resolution; and (ii) the layer-by-layer (bottom-up) manufacturing approach integrated with metallurgical processing (top-down) that can accomplish a fine control of the microstructure, while efficiently building large structures. The research team will establish a fundamental basis for the FCM by performing experiments to evaluate the novel concept of mask patterning to arrange and orient nanoparticles/fibers on a substrate sheet to achieve a custom designed microstructure after consolidation, and by developing a multiphysics numerical model that can predict particle and fiber orientation under an electromagnetic field.