Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

This joint UBC-McMaster project is designed to continue strategic research on multiscale modelling to enable the development of integrated computational materials process engineering tools for Canada's metallurgical industry. The project brings together a group of Canada's leading Computational Materials Scientists with the goal of developing a new integrated microstructure simulation approach. Microstructures are the ""fingerprints"" that give a metal or alloy its unique properties. Alloying elements significantly affect microstructures and resulting properties but in detail their effects on microstructure evolution during materials processing are not yet completely understood. The current project seeks to combine atomistic scale models for the interaction of alloying elements with moving interfaces to simulations on the microstructure length scale using the phase field theory. An integral part of the methodology employed is to validate the simulations with experimental and industrial data. The proposed approach will be applied to phase transformations in low-carbon steels andprecipitation in aluminum alloys. The integrated microstructure simulation tool will be critical to formulate new process models with predictive capabilities for alloy design of advanced steels and aluminum alloys. These state-of-the-art materials are required for applications in the transportation and the construction sector. For example, the design of light-weight and, therefore, more fuel efficient vehicles depends on the availability of steels and aluminum alloys with improved properties. Similarly, new steel grades are being developed for pipelines, e.g. for the challenging conditions in Canada's North. The project will train four Ph.D. students and two postdoctoral fellows. Both computational tools and engineers who have the expertise to use them are essential for Canada's steel and aluminum producers and users to remain globally competitive. This project will contribute to our long term goal of forming a world leading Canadian Computational Materials Sciencenetwork.