The project is aimed at establishing a synergistic link between Information Technology Research (ITR) and research in an emerging area of materials engineering. The research activities include the development of the multi-level theory of diffusion-induced deformation phenomena in particulate materials, such as sintering and electromigration. All constitutive relationships will be obtained through numerical experiments in a virtual test environment, using an innovative parallel computing procedure for linking different material structure levels. This will allow the reduction of a cumbersome and expensive experimental analysis and will clarify the sensitivity of material properties to different structure parameters at various length scales.
The research efforts include a basis of an on-line process (powder consolidation) control for a wide range of particulate component designs, which are used in industries involved in the electronic circuits production for wireless applications, information technology devices, MEMS fabrication, sensors, etc. The project incorporates a plan for the advancement of the Materials Engineering Curriculum of San Diego State University, including the development of the Master of Engineering Program as well as the Joint Doctoral Program with University of California, San Diego.
