MRI: Acquisition of a High Resolution X-Ray Micro-Computed Tomography System for Multidisciplinary and Integrated Research and Education

该主要研究仪器（MRI）奖支持高分辨率x射线微计算机断层扫描系统（micro-CT）的收购，该系统可以对材料及其内部结构进行非破坏性3D成像，广泛应用于工程、自然、海洋、地质科学和医学。拟议的仪器将为迈阿密大学（UM）、佛罗里达国际大学（FIU）和佛罗里达大西洋大学（FAU）的八个系提供关键能力，以进行高影响力的研究并促进多学科研究合作。该工具将用于广泛的教学和推广活动，并将加强努力，吸引代表性不足的少数民族从事科学和工程。研究小组将利用外展努力，例如UM的国家夏季交通研究所（NSTI）计划，向迈阿密-戴德县的高中生介绍成像工具，该县有大量西班牙裔学生。该仪器将允许现场研究机械拉伸压缩和温度对微观结构和材料行为的影响。了解不同环境和机械条件下材料微观结构的演变及其与机械、物理和功能特性的关系，对于民用、航空航天、机械和生物医学工程中材料的设计和耐久性评估至关重要。Micro-CT将有助于研究生物启发方法，使胶凝材料具有自我修复能力，从而实现基础设施的可持续发展，并改善公共安全。Micro-CT将有助于对结构合金的失效起始和发展有一个基本的了解，这将导致结构合金安全设计所需的预测模型的发展。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Award supports acquisition of a high-resolution x-ray micro-computed tomography system (micro-CT) that enables nondestructive 3D imaging of materials and their internal structure for a wide range of applications in engineering, natural, marine, and geological sciences, and medicine. The proposed instrument will provide critical capabilities to eight departments across the University of Miami (UM) and at Florida International University (FIU) and Florida Atlantic University (FAU), to perform high impact research and foster multidisciplinary research collaborations. The instrument will be used in a wide range of teaching and outreach activities and will enhance efforts to attract underrepresented minorities to science and engineering. The research team will leverage outreach efforts-- such as UM's National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI) program-- to introduce imaging tools to high school students from Miami-Dade County, which has a large population of Hispanic students.This instrument will permit in-situ studies of the effect of mechanical tension-compression and temperature on microstructure and material behavior. Understanding the evolution of material microstructure under varied environmental and mechanical conditions and its relationships with mechanical, physical, and functional properties is crucial in the design and durability assessment of materials in civil, aerospace, mechanical, and biomedical engineering. Micro-CT will enable investigations into bio-inspired approaches to impart self-healing in cementitious materials, which will result in sustainable infrastructure and improved public safety. Micro-CT will aid in gaining a fundamental understanding of failure initiation and progression in structural alloys, which will lead to the development of predictive models needed for the safe design of structural alloys.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.