Grant: Canada Excellence Research Chairs

We will focus on science-guided and experience-informed design of structural alloys for nuclear reactor systems, which account for approximately 15% of energy production in Canada, and 60% in the province of Ontario. Current and future energy technologies place pressing demands on materials performance under extreme conditions. While traditional alloy development has progressively led to better performance of some dilute alloys, the fundamental mechanisms behind this are not understood, hindering design of new materials needed for better performing, longer lived and safer nuclear reactors. In contrast to traditional ‘trial-and-error’ approaches, recent breakthroughs in concentrated alloys have vastly expanded compositional space and allowed elemental-specific tunability for new alloy discovery. Realistic prediction of alloy degradation requires understanding of coupled electronic and atomic dynamics. We will examine and exploit the equilibrium and non-equilibrium processes in both model concentrated alloys (bottom-up science-driven) and well-tested conventional dilute alloys (top-down experience-informed approaches) at the electronic and atomic levels up to bulk properties relevant to structural applications for nuclear reactors. The broad goal is to understand deformation tolerance and structural stability of materials at far-from-equilibrium conditions, thus enabling the rapid development and nuclear qualification of structural alloys meeting ever increasing demands for safe and economical performance in harsh and aggressive in service environments. Our program focuses on materials at extremes or far-from-equilibrium conditions, mainly under combined nuclear extremes (e.g., high stress, temperature, and radiation) but underpinning the relation between bonding characteristics and structural stability beyond metal alloys. We aim to link multiple time-and length-scales (e.g., from femtoseconds to decades and from Angstrom to meters) across experimental and computational approaches to identify self-healing mechanisms and design resilient alloys, and to reveal electronic- and atomic-level disorder to stabilize or even realize incredible functionality based on the formation of novel defect states and structures far from equilibrium. Partnership with academia, national labs, and the nuclear industry will ensure efficient knowledge mobilization and effective translation in a wide range of fields touching nearly all sectors of society.