Smart Manufacturing of Hybrid Materials with an Exceptional Combination of Strength and Toughness

传统的工程材料经常为了韧性而牺牲强度，限制了许多材料的可靠性和安全性。一种能够打破这种范式的材料将在关键的高负荷环境中找到应用，在这种环境中，任何一种模式的失效都不是一种选择。这种新型材料可用于形状更小的医疗植入物，更小和更精确的手术器械，甚至加强汽车和飞机结构。 通过结合高强度和高韧性特性，这种材料将适合许多现有的应用，并使新的工程进步跨越医疗，航空航天，汽车和许多其他行业。 该奖项将支持研究开发高强度，高韧性金属材料，模仿自然界中发现的结构。本研究的目的是探索智能制造工艺，利用形状记忆合金来转录“J-曲线”力学响应和均匀的分子/分子结构，并在材料工程和加工领域建立一个新的领域，致力于发现类似的杂化材料，并培养大学生和工业工程师对相关领域的兴趣。在仿生混合材料中有机生物聚合物的原子级变形。研究方法是：（1）通过共晶凝固在具有形状记忆合金和金属间化合物薄片的工程复合材料中复制珍珠层的结构，（2）通过原位同步辐射高能X射线衍射和高分辨率透射电子显微镜力学测试揭示单个薄片的变形机制，（3）通过利用数字图像相关性映射局部应变场来揭示形状记忆合金和金属间化合物层压板之间的载荷传递机制，以及（4）建立用于新型高性能，具有卓越机械性能的仿生混合材料。预期的结果将是生物启发材料设计策略与智能制造技术的结合，以发现具有特殊性能的材料系统，并使其能够快速插入现有的制造工艺。这种变革性的研究有可能（1）产生智能制造工艺的设计，开发和实施的新范式，（2）加速高性能，生物启发材料的开发和使用。

Traditional engineering materials frequently compromise strength for toughness, limiting the reliability and safety of many materials. A material that could break this paradigm would find applications in critical high loading environments where failure from either mode is not an option. Such a novel material could be used for medical implants with a smaller form factor, smaller and more precise surgical instrumentation, and even strengthen automotive and aircraft structures.  By combining high strength and high toughness properties, this material would fit into many existing applications and enable new engineering advances to across the medical, aerospace, automotive, and many other industries.  This award will support research to develop high strength, high toughness metallic materials, which mimic structures found in nature. This research has the potential to establish a new area of materials engineering and processing devoted to the discovery of similar hybrid materials and foster interest in related fields among university students and industry engineers.The objective of this research is to investigate smart manufacturing processes that employ shape memory alloys to transcribe the "J-curve" mechanical response and uniform molecular/atomic level deformation of the organic biopolymer in bio-inspired hybrid materials. The research approaches are to: (1) replicate nacre's architecture in engineering composites with shape memory alloy and intermetallic lamellae through eutectic solidification, (2) unveil the deformation mechanisms of individual lamellae by in-situ synchrotron high-energy X-ray diffraction and high resolution transmission electron microscopy mechanical testing, (3) uncover the load transfer mechanisms between shape memory alloy and intermetallic lamellae by mapping local strain fields with digital image correlation, and (4) establish a smart manufacturing strategy for a new class of high-performance, bio-inspired hybrid materials of exceptional mechanical prowess. The anticipated outcome will be the coupling of bio-inspired materials design strategies with smart manufacturing techniques to enable the discovery of material systems with exceptional properties and to enable their rapid insertion into existing manufacturing processes. This transformative research has the potential (1) to generate new paradigms of design, development, and implementation of smart manufacturing processes and (2) to accelerate the development and use of high performance, bio-inspired materials.