Sponsor: Office of Naval Research, Department of Defense
In this collaborative, multi-disciplinary research program between the University of California at Davis (UC Davis), the University of California at Irvine (UCI), and the University of Southern California (USC), the three main objectives are (1) to identify the novel underlying mechanisms that govern the structural performance (ductility, creep and superplasticity) in bulk nanostructured metallic materials (BNMs), defined hereafter as having a grain size of <100 nm; (2) to develop novel experimental techniques to explore damage evolution in BNMs; and (3) to use this knowledge to design BNMs that are damage resistant. These three objectives will be accomplished by implementing a synergistic approach involving (a) comprehensive physical and mechanical characterization, and (b) advanced in-situ diagnostics. Overall, the research program will identify and quantify the fundamental mechanisms that govern the damage behavior of technologically critical BNMs.