Project description
Understanding degradation for stronger materials in energy and space
New energy technologies and space exploration rely on materials and components that can withstand extreme heat, radiation and corrosion. These harsh conditions often cause materials to weaken and fail. In this context, the ERC-funded URÅNIA project aims to solve this problem. Instead of studying damage after it occurs, it looks for early signs of change inside materials thanks to a sophisticated and breakthrough methodology. Using advanced microscopy, isotopic tracers and neural networks, the project tracks how tiny changes at the nanoscale lead to initiation of cracks and pyrophoricity in different environments (dry and wet) and materials (metals and ceramics). By revealing these hidden stages, URÅNIA aims to enhance our fundamental knowledge to help design stronger, longer-lasting materials for the future of clean and sustainable energy and space missions.
Objective
Materials response to harsh irradiation, temperature and corrosive media is preventing the successful exploitation of innovative nuclear fusion, advanced fission technologies for sustainable energy production and human exploration of faraway planets. Specifically, materials degradation and early failures hinder these scientific longstanding endeavours. The current paradigm to tackle these issues is to implement mitigating solutions or to characterise the surrounding environment to understand failure initiation and propagation.
URÅNIA shifts this approach by focusing directly on understanding the incubation stage prior to initiation events. In this view, I will: i) create a novel gold standard to reveal the incubation stage of materials degradation phenomena; ii) reveal precursors affecting the transition from incubation to initiation, iii) link precursors nanoscale effect to macroscopic degradation behaviour. I want to accelerate the development of innovative nuclear technologies thanks to a new approach towards materials degradation investigation leveraging a combination of hierarchical analyses and interdisciplinary competences across nuclear, chemistry, materials science and engineering. URÅNIA ground breaking idea is to: 1. Create a system where I can measure time to initiation in controlled stress corrosion cracking (SCC) and pyrophoricity experiments. 2. Freeze at specific instants the incubation to initiation transition. 3. Reveal precursors using isotopic tracers with advanced microscopy. 4. Link precursors role at the nanoscale to the resulting macroscale effect using a neural network tool. 5. Compare precursors role in unirradiated and irradiated materials to elucidate the reasons for potentially enhanced SCC. URÅNIA changes the approach to investigate materials degradation, unlocking the development of innovative nuclear materials and potentially aiding materials design in all those key forefront technologies needed in energy and space.
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: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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.
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.
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.
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.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
CB2 1TN CAMBRIDGE
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.