Dr. John Moore, associate professor of mechanical engineering in the Opus College of Engineering, has received a research grant from the U.S. Army Research office to develop more efficient processes to test new high-performance materials.
With the development of new materials, its “equation of state” must be determined. The EOS identifies a material’s physical behavior between pressure, temperature and density across all states, or how it will perform in extreme circumstances. This is critical when determining the performance of these materials in various applications.
“A gap exists in the ability to broadly characterize EOS because capturing all phase changes and states of matter requires many increasingly complex and expensive experiments,” Moore said. “While these large experimental campaigns have been historically manageable, the accelerating pace of material design has driven a need for methods that more efficiently explore and extract EOS. This has become a critical bottleneck in accurately integrating novel materials into design and analysis pipelines.”
Moore will partner with the U.S. Army Research Office to develop a process by which a new material EOS is developed through computational simulations and verified through additional testing. By determining a material’s velocity, or how it moves, through relatively simpler tests, Moore’s team will be able to utilize physics simulations and an algorithm to establish the EOS. The process concludes with verification of the determined EOS.
“Dr. Moore’s approach to more efficient experimentation methods is essential for future innovations in materials science,” said Dr. Kristina Ropella, Opus Dean of the Opus College of Engineering. “I am grateful for his collaborative leadership and expertise to advance discovery in his field. This work will accelerate the pace of scientific breakthroughs in material performance.”
The grant funding for this project has an expected value of about $598,000, and it will run through August 2029.
The Army Research Office is the Army’s extramural basic research arm operating under U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command. Founded in 1951 and based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, ARO’s team of scientists, engineers, and staff help drive the nationwide research agenda to create revolutionary new Army capabilities.
