IUCRC Phase I: University of Tennessee: Center for Composite and Hybrid Materials Interfacing (CHMI)

The Center for Composite and Hybrid Materials Interfacing (CHMI) seeks to generate knowledge and capabilities in joining, bonding, and maintenance of composite and hybrid material structures by applying reliable, data-driven, automated processes using advanced analytical, computational, experimental, and digital techniques and tools. It is a partnership between Oakland University (OU), Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) and University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK).

The significant advantages of lightweight composite and hybrid materials for aerospace, automotive, infrastructure, and biomedical applications come with scientific, technical, and economic challenges that must be addressed for the U.S. to be a global manufacturing leader. The interfaces in these materials systems are identified as a critical barrier due to fabrication costs and inconsistent performance (especially in aggressive environments).

The goal of CHMI is to significantly reduce cost (≥50%), cycle time, and variation of such engineering operations in ten years. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) Site has diverse expertise that spans advanced composite materials, high-fidelity characterization of single to multi-scale fibers, recycled and textile grade carbon fiber, innovative manufacturing with thermoset and thermoplastic polymers and joining.

The strong partnerships with the infrastructure, automotive and biomedical industries are enabled by the Tennessee ecosystem comprising the Fibers and Composites Manufacturing Facility, IACMI-The Composites Institute, Carbon Fiber Technology Facility & Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The three partnering universities have well-established, complementary expertise in lightweight composite and hybrid materials. They will work together on four industry-inspired research thrust areas: (1) Design, Modeling and Analysis, (2) Materials and Process Engineering, (3) Testing and NDE, and (4) Secure Data and Digital Technologies. Each university has emphasized different industry sectors (GT-Aerospace, OU-Automotive/Ground Vehicle, UTK-Infrastructure and Biomedical), which ensures the inclusion of university and industry perspectives across a wide range of U.S. manufacturing.

The CHMI IUCRC will develop a Convergent Research Development Environment that will identify and conduct industry-inspired pre-competitive, innovative research in the area of interfacing composites and hybrid materials. The UTK Site will focus on the infrastructure, automotive, and biomedical needs for accurate computational prediction methods for the composite structures through its research on computation and design, processing/fabrication, characterization and testing, non-destructive evaluation (NDE), and data analytics.

Specifically, research efforts will include multi-material joining of recycled composites to dissimilar materials, energetic initiators for joining hybrid materials, smart processing and sensing of fiber reinforced hybrid materials joints in extreme environments, dissimilar composite-metal joining and overmolding, joining of high performing multi-material soft materials, and the development of other breakthrough technologies that drive industry to mitigate risk and improve efficiency.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.