On September 10, from 1–2 p.m., the Office of Research and Engagement will virtually host Dan Cole, program manager for mechanical behavior of materials at the Army Research Office. ARO funds basic research at universities in various physical, information, and engineering sciences. Cole will give a presentation about working with ARO generally as well as the goals and interests of his research program in particular.
Participants are required to register no later than September 4, 2020. An email with a link to the virtual presentation and password will be sent to all registered attendees prior to the workshop.
Register here.
This program focuses on basic research investigations that enable unprecedented mechanical behavior across a broad spectrum of advanced structural materials in order to ensure high performance under a variety of extreme and highly variable operational conditions. Experimental, theoretical, and numerical efforts are encouraged, particularly those that promote understanding of the underlying physical mechanisms leading to extraordinary behaviors. Studies may focus on a variety of materials, including: metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, and hybrid structures. Research efforts that leverage recent discoveries in other scientific fields, such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Data Science, are also highly encouraged. These investigations are expected to enable transformative capabilities for military personnel in the areas of protection, maneuver, and sustainability.
Current focus areas for this portfolio include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Extreme Mechanical Behaviors. This thrust emphasizes novel concepts that enable materials with dramatic improvements in the state-of-the-art for mechanical behavior, including: energy dissipation, toughness, stiffness, hardness, and resiliency. Areas of interest include new understanding, control, or confinement of deformation mechanisms; exploiting heterogeneous material systems and interface/interphase interactions to enable unprecedented properties while avoiding inherent sub-system weaknesses; and novel approaches for materials to perform in extreme thermomechanical environments.
- Active Mechanical Response. This thrust focuses on structural materials that actively respond to dynamic loading environments and other external stimuli through rapid adaptation of shape, topology, or mechanical properties. Areas of interest include mitigation or manipulation of stress wave propagation; novel actuation schemes that generate extraordinary forces or that require minimal input energies; and novel material responses initiated through multiaxial loading.