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Computational Design for Advanced Material Development

Nowadays, researchers can create and manufacture advanced materials in only a few years instead of decades. Thanks to computer assistance in a field pioneered at MIT. These sophisticated materials even have been used by mobile phone and space companies in the United States with their revolutionary products.

With a five-year US$7.2 million grant from the Office of Naval Research, eight MIT professors, including one of the area’s inventors, hope to make the domain even more powerful. The MIT researchers will set their sights on steel “because it’s still the material [the world] has studied the lengthiest, so we have the profound fundamental knowledge of its properties,” the principal project investigator Gregory B. Olson, the Thermo-Calc Professor of Practice in the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE) elaborated.

These fundamental qualities are critical to a growing steel database that determines everything from chemical compositions to the order of process temperatures to design new high-performance steels. The research is part of President Barack Obama’s Materials Genome Initiative’s second phase (MGI), unveiled in 2011.

The MGI is creating “a fundamental database of the factors that drive the assembly of the structures of materials,” similar to how the Human Genome Project “directs the creation of the structures of life,” Olson explained.

The underlying database format for materials is known as “CALPHAD,” devised at MIT in the 1950s and commercialised by the Thermo-Calc firm, which funds Olson’s professorship. According to the MGI website, the goal is to use the MGI database to find, create, and deploy innovative materials twice as fast and at a fraction of the cost of existing methods.

Cybersteel alteration

Nobody realised whether computers could facilitate the design of novel materials in 1985, as per Olson. However, he and his colleagues eventually demonstrated that they could. As a result, cybersteels now have many uses, including 3D-printed steels that revolutionise how naval aircraft components are built.

QuesTek, Olson’s materials design firm, has already employed computational design technologies to qualify cybersteels in naval aviation elements. The Naval Research Office is also interested in producing nonmagnetic steels for ship hulls.

“Submarine detection is dependent on magnetism, so if you can remove the magnetism, you have a new stealth capability,” said Olson, who co-led computational materials design with late MIT professor Morris Cohen in 1985.

Research to go beyond

Antoine Allanore, DMSE professor of metallurgy, will lead the MIT cybersteels project, which will include work on everything from broadening our understanding of molten steels to economic modelling of the new steels, which Elsa A. Olivetti, the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Career Development Professor in DMSE, will lead.

Another critical area of research is the boundaries between the tiny grains that comprise steel. While the high volume thermodynamics of steel are well documented, “we need to make progress on the thermodynamics of interfaces” — the grain boundaries Olson explained.

  1. Cem Tasan, the Thomas B. King Assistant Professor of Metallurgy in DMSE, and James M. LeBeau, an associate professor in DMSE, will undertake the experimental work. While the theoretical grain boundaries discussion will be done by Christopher A. Schuh, the Danae and Vasilis Salapatas Professor of Metallurgy in DMSE, Jeffrey C. Grossman, the Morton and Claire Goulder and Family Professor in Environmental Systems and head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Olson and Professor David M. Parks of the Department of Mechanical Engineering will collaborate on early-stage simulations of steel toughening mechanisms. Simulations have always been employed in the last stages of design.

Olson is optimistic about the future. “We have [already] succeeded beyond what I had imagined this technology would be. It’s incredible to see it take off.”

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Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

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CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

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SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

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HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

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IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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