Designing practical metallic glasses through synergic computational and experimental exploration of the processing-structure-properties space

Abstract

The present project seeks to understand, quantify and control the presence of heterogeneities inbulk metallic glasses (BMG) and investigates their impact on glass forming ability and mechanicalproperties. It will exploit this knowledge to design novel BMG with improved properties such asan improved fracture toughness, which is a common problem with existing BMG. The role ofdefects (namely, impurities and interfaces) and of diverse processing routes will also beinvestigated. The project tightly integrates a broad range of computational and experimentalefforts: (i) both computational and experimental high-throughput/combinatorial techniques for fastscreening based on stability and glass formability criteria; (ii) accelerated molecular dynamicscoupled with formal statistical geometric analyses with matched experiments employingcontrolled heat treatments and detailed X-ray based microscopic characterization that can extractlocal structural descriptors; (iii) novel BMG processing methods such as additive manufacturing,thermo-forming, stretch- and blow-molding. This broad effort will lead to the identification ofmaterials systems with unique combinations of properties, processability and manufacturability.Promising targeted applications of novel BMG include gears, bearings and other hardware (e.g.,hinges, railings, etc.) that demand exceptional wear resistance. BMG could enable lubrication-freeoperation and resistance to corrosive/abrasive environments (e.g., ocean, desert). The proposedproject has both military and civil applications.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Apr 29, 2020
Source ID
N000142012225

Entities

People

  • Axel van de Walle

Organizations

  • Brown University
  • Office of Naval Research
  • United States Navy

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development
  • Surface Coatings Technology.

Technology Areas

  • Space