Collaborative Research: IRES - Track I: US-Australia collaboration on a new class of lead-free copper alloys to meet international health demands

来自哈维穆德学院(HMC)和加州大学默塞德分校(UC)的美国本科生将与澳大利亚悉尼新南威尔士大学的研究人员合作，开发一种无毒、商业可行的新型黄铜型合金。由于环境铅对健康的严重影响，正在迅速实施从基础设施和产品中消除铅的立法，特别是在市政和住宅管道中使用的含铅黄铜合金。通过该项目开发的合金将对应对在未来十年内消除含铅黄铜的全球挑战做出重要贡献。该项目将为不同的本科生群体(三年共15名)提供国际研究指导，包括HMC和加州大学默塞德分校的工程、化学和物理专业的学生。鼓励理工科学生，特别是第一代大学生充分利用这一机会。在新南威尔士大学材料科学与工程学院和电子显微镜单元，学生们将有机会广泛接触实验室、显微镜设施、培训和物理冶金专业知识。该项目将有助于学生成长为自信、热情的研究人员，为在国际研究环境中从事科学和工程职业做好准备。目前的含铅黄铜替代品存在制造、材料性能和成本方面的限制。该项目将利用之前通过IRES支持与新南威尔士大学研究人员的合作开发的成分复杂的黄铜合金系统的性能/成本效益和灵活性，作为新合金系列的基础，该系列合金将填补因含铅黄铜的退出而留下的材料缺口。在新南威尔士大学导师的指导下，学生将通过加入新的经济高效、无毒的候选合金来开发建议的合金，以在加工过程中执行铅的润滑和断屑功能。他们将进行实验和计算项目，以研究导致理想的机械性能和可加工性的关键机制，并为这些性能和可加工性优化合金系列。这些项目将使学生参与热力学建模、第一原理原子尺度计算建模、实验合金制造以及机械和微结构表征。我们的目标是为拟议的合金系列提供一种商业上可行的含铅黄铜替代品，以满足旨在实现重大健康和环境利益的新兴立法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

U.S. undergraduate students from Harvey Mudd College (HMC) and University of California (UC) Merced will collaborate with researchers at University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia to develop a new class of non-toxic, commercially viable, brass-type alloys. Due to the severe health impacts of environmental lead, legislation to eliminate it from infrastructure and products is rapidly being implemented, with particular focus on the lead-containing brass alloys used in municipal and residential plumbing. The alloys developed through this project will be a critical contribution toward meeting the global challenge of eliminating lead-containing brasses within the next decade. The project will provide international research mentoring for a diverse group of undergraduates (15 total over three years), including engineering, chemistry, and physics majors at HMC and UC Merced. Students underrepresented in science and engineering, and especially first-generation college students, will be encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity. In the School of Materials Science and Engineering and the Electron Microscope Unit at UNSW, the students will have extensive access to laboratories, microscope facilities, training, and physical metallurgy expertise. This project will contribute to the maturation of students into confident, enthusiastic researchers who are prepared for science and engineering careers in international research environments. Current alternatives for leaded brass have manufacturing, material property and cost limitations. This project will utilize the performance/cost benefits and flexibility of a compositionally-complex brass alloy system developed previously through IRES-supported collaboration with UNSW researchers as the base for a new family of alloys that will fill the materials gap left by the exit of leaded brasses. With the guidance of their UNSW mentors, students will develop the proposed alloys by incorporating new cost-effective, non-toxic candidates to perform the lubricating and chip breaking functions of lead during machining. They will conduct experimental and computational projects to investigate key mechanisms responsible for desirable mechanical properties and workability, and to optimize the alloy family for these properties and machinability. These projects will engage students in thermodynamic modeling, first principles atomic-scale computational modeling, experimental alloy fabrication, and mechanical and microstructural characterization. The goal is for the proposed alloy family to provide a commercially viable replacement for leaded brasses to meet emerging legislation aimed at major health and environmental benefits.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.