Surface Engineering and Tribology Research for Sustainable Materials in Demanding Applications

对于试图提供更可持续材料的工程师和科学家来说，磨损造成的降解仍然是一个难题。目前的方法是在材料投入使用的第一天对其进行优化，这通常是关于体积性质的，很少考虑表面及其与环境的相互作用。表面工程师试图通过使用涂层和表面改性来保护材料免受环境影响，这些涂层和表面改性将保护和延长昂贵的工程部件的寿命，如发动机、桥梁、采矿设备、航天器等。然而，即使是这些方法也强调初始性能，而没有考虑到材料在与环境相互作用时所经历的动态变化。这项建议的目标是开发一种新的材料设计方法，在这种方法中，我们使用关于在使用中材料发生了什么变化的信息来帮助我们设计更好的材料。为了实现这一目标，我们的研究小组将对金属、合金和复合材料在各种环境(如潮湿、干燥、高温)中磨损时发生的情况进行广泛的研究。我们将确定材料在表面发生变化时往往会减少磨损的情况。了解这些变化或适应的机制，将有助于我们设计初始材料，以更好地适应并创建有助于使其使用更长时间的表面特征。有了这些信息，我们将进行设计过程，使材料具有优化的结构和性能，以适应磨损，具有更长的使用寿命和更可持续的性能。这种方法对社会的好处可能是巨大的，因为即使是材料寿命的微小增长也可以节省大量能源，并减少更换或维修部件对环境的影响。对于生产复杂和能源密集型的零部件来说，情况尤其如此。

Degradation by wear remains a difficult problem for engineers and scientists attempting to deliver more sustainable materials. Present day approaches are to optimize the material for its first day in service and this most often is about bulk properties with little accounting for the surface and its interaction with the environment. Surface engineers attempt to protect materials from the environment by using coatings and surface modifications that will protect and extend the lifetime of expensive engineering components like those in engines, bridges, mining equipment, spacecraft, etc. However, even these approaches emphasize initial properties and don't account for the dynamic changes a material undergoes as it interacts with its environment. The objective of this proposal is to develop a new approach to materials design where we use the information about what happens to materials in service to help us design even better materials. To accomplish this objective, our research group will undertake extensive study of what happens to metals, alloys and composites when they undergo wear in various environments (e.g. humid, dry, elevated temperatures). We will identify instances when the material undergoes changes at the surface that tend to reduce wear. Understanding the mechanisms for these changes, or adaptations, will help us to engineer the initial materials to better adapt and create a surface feature that helps to make it last longer. Having that information, we will undertake a design process to make materials with optimized structure and properties for being self-adaptive to wear, with longer lifetimes and more sustainable. The benefits to this approach can be enormous for society as even small increases in a material's lifetime can save significant energy and reduce the environmental impact of replacing or repairing components. This is especially true for components that are complicated and energy-intensive to produce.