Achievement

A cross-departmental team of researchers at Cornell has used atomistic modeling to understand the effects of water-based impurities on the failure of lightweight alloys. With the help of NASA and DoD supercomputers, the researchers used both electronic structure calculations and multiscale modeling to probe length and timescales that are beyond the reach of current experimental methods. Using these techniques, they found that electronegative surface impurities encourage crack growth when bonded to certain crack tip sites. This work received widespread public attention. The group is now working to extend this approach with Professor William Curtin at école Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne to improve the computational efficiency of the electronic structure calculations used within the multi-scale model. Computational models such as this are important for the development of lightweight materials with the high strength and durability necessary for fuel-saving aerospace applications.