This grant will provide the partial support of two symposia to be held at the TMS 2013 Annual Meeting and Exhibition, held 3-7 March 2013, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. The attendees will include representatives from industry, academia, and government from more than 68 countries. Two symposia will be supported. The Frontiers in Solidification Symposium will include six sessions focused on papers relating to emerging developments in solidification science and engineering. The Bulk Metallic Glasses X Symposium will consist of ten sessions focused on papers relating to fundamental understanding and theoretical modeling of the processing and mechanical behavior of bulk metallic glasses.
Registration and travel support will enable six graduate students and six post-docs to attend the conference and symposia. Findings and presentations from the conference will be published as conference proceedings and will be available to all attendees.
The two symposia, "Frontiers in Solidification Science" and "Bulk Metallic Glasses X" were held at the TMS 2013 Annual Meeting and Exhibition from March 3 - 7, 2013 in San Antonio, Texas. NSF support was provided for partial conference registration and travel support for students, post-doctoral assistants, and other young, scientific investigators attending the symposia. The educational opportunities as well as the opportunities to interact with and learn from senior researchers afforded at such events are invaluable for young attendees and strongly contribute to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) workforce development. In turn, these areas of research represent strong opportunities for the U.S. to make strides in the development of new technologies that improve human health and quality of life. The advanced study of metal solidification directly ties into the Nation's current commitment to advanced manufacturing. The "Frontiers in Solidification Science" symposium featured talks on subjects such as advances in casting of components for aircraft systems, and development of new casting technologies such as a new approach for processing low-pressure, die-cast aluminum alloy wheels for use in automobiles. It is projected that as these and other featured technologies accelerate in their development; they will contribute to the U.S. enhancing its competitive advantage in manufacturing internationally. The study of bulk metallic glasses is paving the way for a wide variety of novel products and components due to the unique properties of this cutting-edge materials class. These properties stem from the microscopic structure of these materials which are noted by their amorphous or disordered structures which are in contrast to the normal, crystalline structure of metals. It is anticipated that continued advances in this arena, as explored in the "Bulk Metallic Glasses X" symposium will lead to applications such as materials for bone or joint replacement that are longer-lasting and better mimic the mechanical behavior of bones and in some cases, specialized magnetic materials for use in high efficiency electrical transformers.
