Nanoporous High entropy alloys: a new class of materials with remarkable mechanical properties

with Jared Worden

Friday, April 28, 2023
10:10 am

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Nanoporous materials possess a high surface area-to-volume ratio. However, while they exhibit high strength at the microscale, their brittleness at the macroscale is a significant limitation due to the failure of single ligaments leading to a cascading failure of surrounding ligaments. To overcome this challenge, we are investigating the use of nanoporous structures in high entropy alloys. High entropy alloys are materials composed of multiple elements in equiatomic concentrations that have high strength-to-weight ratios and unique strain hardening properties. Molecular dynamics simulations are being utilized to enhance the single ligament strength of nanoporous high entropy alloys under mechanical strain, which has shown outstanding specific strength and specific modulus not achievable by other materials. Furthermore, Atomistic Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations are being employed to investigate the radiation tolerance of nanoporous high entropy alloys. The high number of surfaces in nanoporous materials act as insaturable sinks for defects, and the slow diffusion of defects limits the formation of defect clusters, thereby leading to high radiation tolerance.

Jarod Worden dual majored in Physics and Applied Mathematics for his undergraduate degree at the College of William and Mary. He joined Dr. Celine Hin’s group in the fall of 2019 and will be graduating with his PhD in Fall 2023.