Grant: Canada Research Chairs

The proposed research program will act as a platform for the long-term vision of bridging the gap between industrial design/application and material science, furthering shape memory alloy (SMA) technologies to the point where industry can reap their full potential. More specifically, the proposed next term of discovery research will focus on furthering extremely promising laser processing technologies, addressing past issues identified in literature and building on fundamental discoveries from the applicant's previous discovery program. The key objectives of this research are: i) understand and develop quantitative relationship between phase transformation temperatures and laser processing conditions; ii) Investigate the effects of laser processing conditions on the shape memory effect and pseudoelastic properties; iii) understand and improve upon the corrosion performance and biocompatibility of processed material; and, iv) disseminate core research to facilitate the development of new applications where laser technologies can benefit industry and fundamental SMA research. The successful execution of this program will not only provide valuable fundamental insight into laser processing NiTi SMAs, but will also greatly impact development of new technologies, dissemination of core research to industry, and train highly qualified personnel (HQP). Processing protocol and SMA materials science developed in this work will provide competitive advantage to Canadian industries including, but not limited to, medical, automotive, aerospace, and microelectronics industries. Nine HQP including 3 doctorate, 4 masters students, and 2 post-doctoral fellows will be trained over the proposed five year discovery research program. These researchers will gain experience with leading edge experimental and analytical equipment and will gain expertise in the fields of materials science and engineering, and laser processing. Canada's future competitiveness will therefore be enhanced through their future positions in Canadian industry, academia, and government.