APL 97, 021909 (2010)
Our goal is to create nano-metallic materials (NMMs) that resist flow localization by engineering their architectures, interfaces/surfaces, and compositions via an iterative design process that integrates theory, modeling, and experiments. NMMs, such as metal nanocomposites and nanoporous metals, present significant advantages over conventional bulk metals. However, an impediment to their widespread technological application is that they fail suddenly and with minimal uniform plastic deformation, almost as if they were brittle materials. In fact, most NMMs are inherently ductile and their apparent “brittle-like” failure is actually due to plastic flow localization: plasticity concentrates in narrow zones, which deform to very high strains and eventually fracture while the surrounding material remains undeformed, as shown in the example in the figure to the right. By averting flow localization, we will impart to NMMs the ability to undergo large-scale, uniform plastic deformation, markedly advancing their potential for use in structural and functional applications.
This NSF DMREF project is a collaboration between Texas A&M University, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
The official project links on the NSF website: