CAREER: Enhanced Ferroelastic Toughening in Electroceramic Composites through Microstructural Coupling

非技术描述：陶瓷材料中的特定键合配置可在广泛的高级应用中实现独特的功能，包括超级计算机中的金属丝、汽车排气中的精密气体传感器和消费电子产品中的倾斜传感器。然而，这些相同的原子键也是陶瓷的特征脆性破坏行为的原因。这项研究正在产生新的观点，对一类电子陶瓷的基本机械响应，需要提高耐用性，而不牺牲电气性能。通过将这些见解与加工科学相结合，该项目正在加速新型电瓷材料和材料系统的开发，这些材料和材料系统可能会大幅扩展现有的性能和耐用性极限。通过各种教育和外联活动，该项目还促进了传统上代表性不足的学生的参与和保留。这些活动包括为对材料科学感兴趣的年轻女性举办高中夏令营，将工业相关的计算工具纳入本科课程，并在工程学院内扩大对女研究生的指导。该项目通过实验建立了随机形态特征与内在增韧机制之间的基本关系，以便系统地设计高度耐用的铁弹性/铁电功能复合材料。铁弹切换是一个有限的数量的内在增韧机制可用于先进的陶瓷，但它并没有得到充分利用，由于在很大程度上未表征的局部形态特征之间的关系，域成核和运动的有效激活，以及由此产生的韧性改善。通过使用原位显微镜和有针对性的微机械探针来弥合这一差距，这项研究为更耐用的陶瓷复合材料系统的加速物理设计提供了基础。最后，该项目中使用的最先进的表征和处理方法与数据驱动的综合计算材料工程观点相结合，正在增强研究生的整体发展，为更加依赖数字的材料科学行业做好准备。

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Specific bonding configurations in ceramic materials enable unique functionalities in a wide range of advanced applications, including superconductive wires in supercomputers, precise gas sensors in automotive exhaust and tilt sensors in consumer electronics. However, these same atomic bonds are also the responsible for the characteristic brittle failure behavior of ceramics. This research is generating new perspectives on fundamental mechanical responses within a class of electrical ceramics necessary to enhance durability without sacrificing electrical performance. By coupling these insights with processing science, this project is accelerating the development of new electroceramic materials and material systems that may drastically expand the existing limits of performance and durability. Through a variety of education and outreach activities, this project also promotes engagement and retention of traditionally underrepresented students. These activities include a high school summer camp for young women interested in material science, integration of industrially relevant, computational tools into undergraduate courses, and expanded mentorship of female graduate students within the college of engineering.TECHNICAL DETAILS: This project is experimentally establishing a fundamental relationship between otherwise stochastic morphological features and intrinsic toughening mechanism in order to systematically design highly durable, ferroelastic/ferroelectric functional composites. Ferroelastic switching is one of a limited number of intrinsic toughening mechanisms available for advanced ceramics, yet it is not fully utilized due to the largely uncharacterized relationship between localized morphological features, efficient activation of domain nucleation and motion, and resultant improvements in toughness. By bridging this gap using in situ microscopy and targeted micromechanical probes, this research is providing the foundation for accelerated physics-based design of more durable ceramic composite systems. Finally, the state of the art characterization and processing methods used in this project in combination with a data-driven integrated computational materials engineering perspective is enhancing the overall development of graduate students, preparing them for an ever more digitally-reliant materials science industry.