Driven Glasses: from statistical physics to materials properties

Objective

Amorphous systems form a large fraction of the solid materials that surround us, from polymer glasses to mineral or metallic glasses, from toothpaste (a colloidal paste) to granular materials. Still, a theoretical framework for describing the mechanical properties of such materials, comparable to the dislocation theory that describes crystalline systems, is still missing. Our understanding of prominent experimental feature such as the heterogeneous character of deformation, or the temperature and rate dependence of the mechanical response, is very limited.
These materials indeed combine several difficulties. In contrast to liquids or crystals, they are intrinsically out of equilibrium, and their microstructure presents a large statistical distribution of mechanically distinct local environments. The importance of the notion of heterogeneity in the mechanical behaviour of amorphous systems is being increasingly recognized, still there is no numerical or theoretical model that incorporates this microscopic feature into a macroscopic description of deformation and flow.
The aim of the proposed research program is to build such models, within a multiscale approach seeking inspiration from dislocation dynamics, from the statistical physics of glasses and from the physics of dynamical critical phenomena. The proposed approach is based on a combination of intensive numerical simulations at the atomic scale and at a coarse grained scale, which will necessitate the development of efficient numerical schemes. The statistical analysis will allow us to understand the universal and non universal features of material behaviour in terms of the interactions between the atomic constituents, and to establish the validity and importance of new concepts such as mechanical activation or dynamical heterogeneities.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

• natural sciences physical sciences condensed matter physics soft matter physics
• natural sciences chemical sciences polymer sciences
• engineering and technology materials engineering

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

• ERC-AG-PE3 - ERC Advanced Grant - Condensed matter physics

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

ERC-2011-ADG_20110209
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

ERC-AG - ERC Advanced Grant

Host institution

Beneficiaries (2)