X-ray Diffraction Microscopy and Microstructure Dependence of Spall, a project under the Chicago/DOE Alliance Center – A Center of Excellence for Materials at Extremes.

OBJECTIVES: The goals of the Chicago/DOE Alliance Center (CDAC) are to enhance our understanding of materials in extreme thermomechanical, chemical, and radiation environments; to integrate and coordinate experimental and theoretical studies of materials in these conditions; and to train and diversify the next generation of scientists for the NNSA in this growing field of materials science by enriching graduate education and training and by facilitating interactions between NNSA lab scientists and academia.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: CDAC is dedicated to basic research, training, and technique development in the study of materials in extreme conditions. The Center has enabled numerous advances in high P-T science, technology, and training since its inception in 2003 as the Carnegie/DOE Alliance Center. These advances include student and postdoc-led scientific discoveries and a successful track record in training early career scientists for work in the NNSA complex.

The Research and Training plan is organized into three Thrusts driven by NNSA-derived Grand Challenges for materials in extreme environments, specifically: 1. Thermomechanical Extremes, with the goal to enhance understanding of materials in extreme conditions by advancing the evolving synergy between static, quasi-static, and dynamic compression techniques over a broad range of strain and strain rates in close synergy with theory, modeling, and simulation; 2. Chemical Extremes, with the goal to advance our understanding of extreme chemistry, including the development of rules for predicting chemical behavior at extreme conditions and extreme reactivity under all conditions, length scales, and dimensionality; and 3. Multiple Extremes, with the goal to advance our knowledge of the behavior of materials exposed to combined extreme conditions, including intense particle and electromagnetic fields, to enhance material performance, and to create new materials. The Center is linked by four Cross-cutting Themes involving all three Thrusts: (a) determining Material Properties in extreme environments, (b) investigating carefully chosen Targeted Materials, (c) fostering close synergy between Experiment and Theory, and (d) utilizing Advanced Radiation Facilities at DOE/SC and DOE/NNSA labs and other facilities.

CDAC will conduct static, quasi-static, and dynamic compression experiments covering a broad range of strain rates, together with theory, modeling, and simulation in CDAC university labs as well as DOE/SC and DOE/NNSA facilities. The work will be enabled by continued access to CDAC’s partner synchrotron radiation facilities, High Pressure Collaborative Access Team (HPCAT) at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and the Frontier Infrared Spectroscopy (FIS) beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source II, Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), as well as other facilities. The overarching scientific outcome is advancing the fundamental understanding of materials behavior in extreme conditions, which in turn will lead to improved understanding of materials aging, performance of newly manufactured materials, materials in multiple extreme environments, and the creation of new materials of relevance to the NNSA.

CDAC engagement with NNSA programs at ANL and with its partner groups in Illinois has been significantly enhanced by its move to the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). CDAC’s successful program in education and training the next generation of researchers for stewardship science will be further expanded with new modalities that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout our Center. In so doing, CDAC will host student workshops and sponsor meetings and symposia for the broader community. The Center will facilitate student engagement with NNSA labs and be a vehicle for introducing early career scientists to NNSA labs and supporting their professional development. The Center will continue to closely collaborate with other academic groups, other SSAA awardees, and other national laboratory scientists. CDAC will continue to leverage the SSAA cooperative agreement with additional grants, which so far have multiplied by several times the impact and investment of NNSA in the Center. Finally, CDAC will support the use of NNSA facilities, including new experiments proposed for NIF, Z, and LANSCE, and feasibility studies for potentially new NNSA facilities at DOE/SC light sources. As such, CDAC will raise the visibility of the NNSA in the broader community.