Project description
Tailoring plasticity in advanced materials
The demand for advanced materials with improved functionality and sustainability is growing, particularly in industries such as transportation and energy production. Traditional methods of manipulating microstructures in metal alloys have proven effective, but new strategies are needed. In particular, a deeper understanding of how plastic deformation mechanisms operate in intermetallic phases is crucial. The challenge lies in predicting and tailoring these properties to achieve enhanced performance under extreme conditions. In this context, the ERC-funded TAILORPLAST project explores the atomic mechanisms of dislocation motion in intermetallics. It applies graph neural networks to design materials with tailored properties, focusing on intermetallic phases for structural applications. TAILORPLAST aims to drive the accelerated design of high-performance alloys with customised plasticity.
Objective
TAILORPLAST focuses on understanding and predicting plastic deformation mechanisms in intermetallic phases for advanced structural and functional materials. The traditional approach of manipulating microstructures in metal-based alloys has been immensely successful, but new materials and predictive materials design strategies are needed to enable new functionalities and sustainability in transportation, production, energy conversion and storage. TAILORPLAST seeks to address this challenge by adopting a generalised approach and leveraging recent experimental and computational insights into the atomic mechanisms of dislocation motion in intermetallics in combination with graph neural networks and their reach towards extensive databases.
Recently, we could show that small changes in intermetallic composition can lead to dramatic property changes. We uncovered the details of the essential dislocation mechanisms and energy barriers in the intermetallic crystals and have demonstrated how this knowledge enables tailoring of properties. Within a single crystal structure, the critical stresses for deformation may be varied across a large range by inducing sublattice order, even in a binary intermetallic.
The project's objectives are to expand the understanding of fundamental plasticity mechanisms beyond metals, transfer these mechanisms to a large class of topologically close-packed intermetallic phases, and ultimately identify promising intermetallics for tailored plasticity and predict the plastic properties of complex intermetallic precipitate phases in high-performance alloys. The success of TAILORPLAST will lead to purposeful application-oriented material selection, accelerated alloy design, and the ability to tailor structural materials for extreme conditions and functional materials for new applications.
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsHost institution
52062 Aachen
Germany