Modeling interfaces in new engineering materials

Solving grand challenges of the world requires contributions from many great minds. That is the purpose of the international collaboration DIAGONAL. The collaborators are researching the behavior of new engineered materials, looking toward a future where material characteristics can be designed and controlled and modeled with precision.

The project Ductility and Fracture Toughness Analysis of Functionally Graded Materials (DIAGONAL), is an international network of ten organizations, working on joint research in the field of Solid Mechanics. (https://diagonalse.com/).

Functionally graded materials (FGM) are materials whose properties gradually change in some direction. They can be encountered in nature (like bone or bamboo), or they can be engineered. Engineered FGMs can be designed to provide desirable properties, for example, thermal barrier coatings.

Combining FGM with additive manufacturing (a.k.a., 3D printing) could allow creation of highly complex structures with varying characteristics. The gradual changing of characteristics made possible through additive manufacturing could make structures more durable, reducing delamination at joints or inhibiting fracture initiation or propagation. Study of the properties and characteristics of FGMs is necessary to understand and take advantage of the vast possibilities they present, in areas from geology to biology.

The DIAGONAL consortium involves four beneficiaries (University Carlos III of Madrid and University of Seville in Spain, Institute of Fundamental Technological Research in Poland, The IMT School for Advanced Studies Research in Italy) and six partner organizations. The latter include University of Minnesota, University of Florida, Texas A&M University, Northwestern University, Federal University Santa Maria in Brazil, and Monash University in Australia. Each organization brings unique skills in Solid Mechanics, contributing to a greater understanding of the mechanical behavior of brittle and ductile functionally graded materials. For example, the University of Seville and University of Minnesota are collaborating on analysis of graded interface layers between different materials.

The collaboration between the University of Seville and University of Minnesota has a long history. It started in 2015 when Research Professor Sofia Mogilevskaya connected with Professor Vladislav Mantic from the University of Seville at the ASCE (EMI) conference at Stanford University. After several collaborative projects, two joint publications, and mutual visits—including Mantic’s MTS visiting professorship at CEGE, during which he was introduced to Professor Joseph Labuz—Mantic invited Profs. Mogilevskaya and Labuz to join the Diagonal consortium.

This summer, Professor Vladislav Mantic and Dr. Maria A. Herrera, both from the University Seville, came to the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering to work with Sofia Mogilevskaya and Joseph Labuz. The researchers will share skills and exchange knowledge to better understand the behavior of functionally graded materials. The main goals of this summer’s exchange are 1) enhanced relations between the two institutions to support synergistic cooperation and transfer of knowledge, and 2) development of models helpful in understanding FGMs.

The immediate focus of their attention is to combine and further develop the software models developed In Seville and combine them with the theoretical and experimental developments at the University of Minnesota in order to enhance capabilities for modeling functionally graded layers.

The DIAGONAL project is supported by the European Commission (https://cordis.europa.eu) and is “directly related to three of the challenges identified in the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation that must be addressed by strategic investments in transportation and security technologies:  Civil Security for Society; Digital, Industry and Space and Climate; Energy and Mobility of Horizon Europe.”