1. Development of High-Performance Ultrafine, Nanocrystalline and Ultracoarse Hard Metals
(1) Synthesis of nanoscale WC-Co based composite powders and development of specific composite powders for thermal spray coatings and additive manufacturing.
(2) Mechanisms for concurrent strengthening and toughening of cemented carbides and development of new-type hard metals with high comprehensive mechanical performance.
(3) Applications of hard metals to wear- and corrosion-resistant coatings and high-end machining, cutting, and drilling tools via industrial collaborations.
2. Design and Development of Refractory-Metal Based Composites and Refractory High Entropy Alloys
(1) Multiscale microstructure design and phase stability regulation towards high performance at elevated temperatures.
(2) Configuration design and comprehensive performance enhancement of refractory/non-ferrous metal matrix composites.
(3) Development of refractory high entropy alloys assisted by high-throughput machine learning and innovative preparation techniques.
3. Rare-Earth Functional Materials and Architecturally Ordered Functional Materials
(1) Database development of rare-earth metals and rare-earth functional materials, as a basis for data-driven design of rare-earth functional materials.
(2) Preparation of nanostructured Sm-Co based rare-earth permanent magnets and investigation on their performance mechanisms.
(3) Establishing methods for preparing functional materials with ordered hierarchical structure via polymer assisted self-assembly.
4. Computational Materials Science (CMS) and Its Applications in Materials Design
(1) Multiscale simulations of interactions between various components of alloys and metal matrix and ceramic-based composites to guide the design of material compositions.
(2) Multistage simulations of preparation and treatment of materials to reveal the effect of processing parameters on the mechanical and functional properties of materials.
(3) Understanding the relationship of composition, microstructure, and properties of materials based on a combination of CMS, big data and AI techniques.
