Superhard, wear resistant materials are widely used by the automotive, aerospace, oil and gas, and any manufacturing industry that relies on drilling, cutting, and grinding. Yet, the synthesis of most materials employed for these applications, such as polycrystalline diamond, require high temperatures and extreme pressures, which escalates their cost. A class of materials known as transition metal borides are more easily processed making them viable alternatives; however, they contain expensive and exceedingly scarce metals. This award supports the fundamental research necessary to discover new, low-cost synthetic processes for novel superhard, wear resistant materials that incorporate earth-abundant elements. Achieving these research goals will require the integration of materials engineering, chemistry, computational physics, and data mining. This coordinated approach will not only lead to higher performance materials but it also has the potential to transform many manufacturing processes by replacing current systems with sustainable, cost-effective alternatives. Further, this award will be used to teach undergraduate and graduate students how to address materials design problems through a multi-disciplinary, holistic picture that includes both performance and resource considerations. Teaching the next generation of STEM students how fundamental chemical research can lead to applied materials engineering is essential for global competitiveness. Â The development of earth-abundant, superhard materials will employ informatics and computation to screen ternary intermetallic boride and carbide phase space. In combination, this approach will guide the experimental identification of novel crystal structures with outstanding mechanical properties. The research team will develop energy efficient microwave heating, induction heating, and solution-based synthesis to overcome the conventional high temperatures and pressures required to prepare these materials. Additionally, novel mechanochemical experiments using in-situ nanoindentation coupled with IR spectroscopy, in conjunction with first principles electronic structure theory, will establish the fundamental mechanisms of mechanical deformation. These experiments will serve to validate the computationally screened compounds as well as reveal opportunities to optimize chemical bonding interactions further enhancing the mechanical response. The result will inform the future advancement of engineering materials by producing a methodological framework to understand the mechanics of disparate classes of complex inorganic solids.
