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Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number	EP/K008749/1
Title	Material Systems for Extreme Environments
Status	Completed
Energy Categories	Nuclear Fission and Fusion(Nuclear Fission, Nuclear supporting technologies) 20%; Nuclear Fission and Fusion(Nuclear Fusion) 20%; Not Energy Related 60%;
Research Types	Basic and strategic applied research 100%
Science and Technology Fields	PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Metallurgy and Materials) 100%
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation	Not Cross-cutting 100%
Principal Investigator	Professor J Binner No email address given Inst of Polymer Tech and Materials Eng Loughborough University
Award Type	Standard
Funding Source	EPSRC
Start Date	01 February 2013
End Date	31 December 2013
Duration	11 months
Total Grant Value	£4,280,020
Industrial Sectors	Manufacturing
Region	East Midlands
Programme	Energy : Engineering, NC : Engineering
Investigators	Principal Investigator	Professor J Binner , Inst of Polymer Tech and Materials Eng, Loughborough University (99.997%)
	Other Investigator	Dr M Reece , Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary, University of London (0.001%) Professor B Lee , Materials, Imperial College London (0.001%) Professor MW Finnis , Materials, Imperial College London (0.001%)
	Industrial Collaborator	Project Contact , National Physical Laboratory (NPL) (0.000%) Project Contact , Vesuvius UK (0.000%) Project Contact , DSTL - Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (0.000%) Project Contact , Kerneos, France (0.000%) Project Contact , National Nuclear Laboratory (0.000%) Project Contact , Innovate UK (0.000%) Project Contact , AWE Plc (0.000%) Project Contact , Kennametal Sintec Keramik UK Ltd (0.000%) Project Contact , Morgan Crucible (0.000%) Project Contact , European Space Agency (ESA) (0.000%) Project Contact , European Center of Ceramics. France (0.000%) Project Contact , Tokamak Energy Ltd (0.000%) Project Contact , Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), USA (0.000%) Project Contact , TWI Technology Centre (0.000%) Project Contact , Missouri University of Science and Technology, USA (0.000%) Project Contact , National Research Council (CNR), Italy (0.000%) Project Contact , Lucideon Ltd (0.000%) Project Contact , Teledyne Scientific and Imaging LLC, USA (0.000%)
Web Site
Objectives
Abstract	The conditions in which materials are required to operate are becoming ever more challenging. Operating temperatures and pressures are increasing in all areas of manufacture, energy generation, transport and environmental clean-up. Often the high temperatures are combined with severe chemical environments and exposure to high energy and, in the nuclear industry, to ionising radiation. The production and processing of next-generation materials capable of operating in these conditions will be non-trivial, especially at the scale required in many of these applications. In some cases, totally new compositions, processing and joining strategies will have to be developed. The need for long-term reliability in many components means that defects introduced during processing will need to be kept to an absolute minimum or defect-tolerant systems developed, e.g. via fibre reinforcement. Modelling techniques that link different length and time scales to define the materials chemistry, microstructure and processing strategy are key to speeding up the development of these next-generation materials. Further, they will not function in isolation but as part of a system. It is the behaviour of the latter that is crucial, so that interactions between different materials, the joining processes, the behaviour of the different parts under extreme conditions and how they can be made to work together, must be understood.Our vision is to develop the required understanding of how the processing, microstructures and properties of materials systems operating in extreme environments interact to the point where materials with the required performance can be designed and then manufactured. Aligned with the Materials Genome Initiative in the USA, we will integrate hierarchical and predictive modelling capability in fields where experiments are extremely difficult and expensive.The team have significant experience of working in this area. Composites based on 'exotic' materials such as zirconium diborides and silicon carbide have been developed for use as leading edges for hypersonic vehicles over a 3 year, DSTL funded collaboration between the 3 universities associated with this proposal. World-leading achievements include densifying them in <10 mins using a relatively new technique known as spark plasma sintering (SPS); measuring their thermal and mechanical properties at up to 2000oC; assessing their oxidation performance at extremely high heat fluxes and producing fibre-reinforced systems that can withstand exceptionally high heating rates, e.g. 1000oC s-1, and temperatures of nearly 3000oC for several minutes. The research planned for this Programme Grant is designed to both spin off this knowledge into materials processing for nuclear fusion and fission, aerospace and other applications where radiation, oxidation and erosion resistance at very high temperatures are essential and to gain a deep understanding of the processing-microstructure-property relations ofthese materials and how they interact with each other by undertaking one of the most thorough assessments ever, allowing new and revolutionary compositions, microstructures and composite systems to be designed, manufactured and tested. A wide range of potential crystal chemistries will be considered to enable identification of operational mechanisms across a range of materials systems and to achieve paradigm changing developments. The Programme Grant would enable us to put in place the expertise required to produce a chain of knowledge from prediction and synthesis through to processing, characterisation and application that will enable the UK to be world leading in materials for harsh environments
Publications	(none)
Final Report	(none)
Added to Database	19/03/13