MRI: Acquisition of an X-Ray Computed Tomography System at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for Advancing Multidisciplinary Research and Education in the Great Plains Region

该主要研究仪器（MRI）奖支持内布拉斯加大学林肯分校（UNL）购置一台x射线计算机断层扫描（XCT）仪器，以实现对下一代制造部件的新基础研究。体现材料和制造最新进展的高质量组件对于从航空航天到基础设施和生物医学设备的最先进产品至关重要。研究人员将使用XCT对导致组件缺陷和空隙的原因进行新的理解，从而设计出性能更高、更可靠的产品。该奖项直接惠及100多名教职员工、研究人员、研究生和本科生在UNL进行的材料工程研究。参与这项研究的三分之一以上的学生来自代表性不足的群体。该仪器将被放置在一个设施中，为大平原地区的学术和工业研究人员提供访问。XCT将在UNL及其他领域催化新的多学科研究，加强UNL与合作伙伴少数族裔服务机构的合作，并激发未被充分代表的群体的学生追求研究生学习和工程职业的兴趣。为了理解、模拟和利用尖端制造工艺的前景，研究人员需要一个组件的信息。S的外部和内部几何形状，表面特征，以及是否存在缺陷，如空隙。XCT至关重要，因为它允许对样品的功能和安全关键方面进行无损分析。UNL及其合作伙伴的研究人员将使用XCT提供从厘米到微米尺度的各种有机和无机材料的3D内部和外部结构的基本见解。从XCT分析中获得的信息将促进对几个多学科领域中工艺-结构关系的理解，包括1)增材制造，在制造过程中研究工艺-材料相互作用对最终零件质量的影响；2)用于激光工程功能化表面的材料科学，其中激光处理的表面特性被量化，相对于它们对疏水性和防冰等现象的影响；3)用于下一代基础设施的材料，其中混凝土和钢材制成的结构部件被研究其老化和可持续制造。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 the acquisition of an X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) instrument at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) to enable new fundamental research on next-generation manufactured components. Quality components that embody the latest advances in materials and manufacturing are essential to state- of-the-art products from aerospace to infrastructure and biomedical devices. Researchers will use the XCT to develop new understanding of what causes flaws and voids in components--enabling the design of higher performing, more reliable products. This award directly benefits materials engineering research conducted by more than 100 faculty, staff researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students at UNL. More than a third of the students involved in this research are from underrepresented groups. The instrument will be placed in a facility that provides access to academic and industrial researchers across the Great Plains region. The XCT will catalyze new multidisciplinary research at UNL and beyond, strengthen UNL collaborations with partner minority-serving institutions, and stimulate interest among students from underrepresented groups to pursue graduate study and careers in engineering. To understand, model, and exploit the promise of cutting-edge manufacturing processes, researchers need information on a component?s external and internal geometry, surface characteristics, and the presence of flaws, such as voids. The XCT is critical because it allows nondestructive analysis of the functional and safety-critical aspects of a sample. Researchers at UNL and its partners will use the XCT to provide fundamental insight into the 3D internal and external structure of a wide range of organic and inorganic materials from centimeter to micrometer scales. The information obtained from the XCT analysis will advance understanding of the process-structure relationship in several multi-disciplinary domains, including 1) additive manufacturing for which the process-material interactions during manufacturing are studied with respect to the quality of the final part, 2) material science for laser-engineered functionalized surfaces for which surface characteristics from laser-processing are quantified relative to their impact on phenomena such as hydrophobicity and anti-icing, and 3) materials for next-generation infrastructure for which structural components made from concrete and steel are studied with respect to their aging and sustainable manufacturing.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.