An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Material Measurement Laboratory Fiscal Year 2014 (2015) / Chapter Skim
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7 Materials Science and Engineering Division
7 Materials Science and Engineering Division
Pages 54-65
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From page 54... ...
The groups are the Thermodynamics and Kinetics Group, the Functional Nanostructured Materials Group, the Polymers and Complex Fluids Group, the Functional Polymers Group, and the Mechanical Performance Group. In addition, the division plays a significant role within NIST for two cross-cutting programs: the Materials Genome Initiative and the additive manufacturing program within the NIST advanced manufacturing initiative.
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From page 55... ...
Additive Manufacturing Program The newly established additive manufacturing program is off to a good start -- the team has been formed, and the effort has been focused on filling a gap in the knowledge base for additive manufacturing. As a first effort, understanding the microstructural evolution of as-deposited metallic materials, which have relatively poor properties, into a high-strength structural material is essential.
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From page 56... ...
For electrically conductive composite materials, this group has developed noncontact techniques for measuring conductivity in nanotube polymer composites employing microwave radiation, a technique that is very useful albeit not unique. Matrix interface interactions are a key aspect of high-performance polymer composites, and the group has attacked the issue of characterizing the interface using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)
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From page 57... ...
Functional Polymers Group The Functional Polymers Group addresses the electrical, chemical, and magnetic properties of nanostructured inorganic materials, including metals and semiconductors, as related to their microstructure and processing. It focuses on three general themes: transport membranes, printed and flexible electronics, and dimensional metrology.
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From page 58... ...
Opportunities and Challenges The Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) is a challenging and ambitious effort within the national MGI effort, and it will require years of consistent and deliberate efforts to identify and close gaps, develop experimental and theoretical program plans, and complete, in the near term and long term, projects that are built on MML strengths and are useful to the NIST users as well as external customers.
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From page 59... ...
The Functional Nanostructured Materials Group has excellent programs in magnetic materials, aspects of energy storage, and nanowires. Because these efforts are all of high scientific and commercial interest, there is a significant amount of ongoing research in these areas outside NIST.
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From page 60... ...
The principal effort of the Mechanical Performance Group is related to mechanical properties of metallic materials, with soft materials a distant second priority; the only polymer-related effort was the project on measuring the high strain behavior of fibers. There are numerous pockets of soft materials mechanics work scattered throughout the division that would benefit from collaboration by the mechanical performance experts in this group.
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From page 61... ...
This unique piece of equipment can perform mechanical testing on a wide range of structural materials, providing critical data required by automotive design engineers using sophisticated computation tools; it will shorten the lead time to design lighter-weight vehicles. Also, NIST's scattering and reflectivity 61
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From page 62... ...
The formation of consortia, such as nSoft, has been a particularly effective dissemination method to industrial research organizations. Since 2012, the division scientists have authored 173 papers in archival journals, produced 41 conference proceedings, led 13 workshops, co-organized 3 workshops, authored 8 NIST reports, concluded 3 material transfer agreements, and participated in 2 industry roadmapping committees and 45 standards committees.
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From page 63... ...
The recent reorganization of the division has increased collaboration opportunities among the different MSED technical groups, such as determining mechanical properties under extreme conditions and high-strain-rate loading conditions for polymeric and metallic materials. The cross-cutting projects, such as the Materials Genome Initiative and the additive manufacturing program, and the MML focus groups offer additional opportunities for collaboration among the technical disciplines.
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From page 64... ...
MSED staff reported that there are ponderous institutional rules and procedures imposed at the enterprise level that need to be followed to acquire items ranging from needed routine items to major pieces of equipment, and that these are impediments that adversely affect the morale of the researchers and detract from the time that they can focus on their technical efforts. Recommendation: The Materials Science and Engineering Division should work with Material Measurement Laboratory management and NIST administrative and legal offices to identify compliant ways to streamline the current rules and procedures for acquisition of equipment and support services.
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From page 65... ...
Recommendation: The Functional Nanostructured Materials Group should evaluate related work worldwide and should concentrate its efforts on magnetic materials, energy storage, and nanowires to build on current successes, such as leveraging results on the lithium-ion battery. Although the Polymer and Complex Fluids Group listed expertise in organic synthesis, an effort in organic synthesis was not evident in the presentations to the panel.
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