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Metallic and Alloy Materials Topics at Texas Materials Institute
Metal systems comprise those materials which are based on metals or in which the dominant fraction is metallic. Examples include familiar metallic alloys of steel, aluminum, and titanium as well as less familiar alloys and intermetallic compounds. Also included are metal-matrix composites, which are based upon metallic alloys reinforced with a second phase, typically ceramic. Metal systems are used in almost every imaginable type of engineering application: structural, electronic, magnetic, biological, catalytic, and many others.
Current research programs at the TMI involving metal systems include the following:
- Phase stability, phase equilibria, and order-disorder transitions are studied by means of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and ab-initio calculations.
- The relationships between processing and mechanical and physical properties are studied using microscopy and other analytical techniques.
- Creep and superplasticity are studied by testing at elevated temperatures.
- Tribology and corrosion are studied in various environments.
- Powder processing encompasses sol-gel chemistry, sintering behavior, and selective laser sintering for rapid manufacturing.
- Mechanical properties of metal-matrix-composites are studied at room and elevated temperatures.
- The processing and behavior of thin metallic films for microelectronic and magnetic applications.
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