The Materials Science and Engineering Center at Sandia National Laboratories provides the knowledge of materials structure, properties, and performance and the processes to produce, transform, and analyze materials to ensure mission success for our customers and partners, both internal and external to the laboratories.
Scientifically Engineered Materials:
We develop new and novel materials with defined properties or performance characteristics to meet our mission requirements. Scientific advancements are needed to understand how materials properties and performance under specified conditions depend on composition, microstructure, and preparation. New materials may be required to replace obsolete or unavailable technologies, meet new system requirements, or provide new functional capabilities, which are often unique to Sandia applications. We are increasingly interested in understanding and manipulating materials structure, synthesis, and properties at the nanoscale to create materials with enhanced or unique properties.
Materials Processing:
We provide the knowledge base needed to understand, characterize, model, and ultimately control materials fabrication technologies that are critical to component development and production. New processing technologies, especially at the nano-and micro-scale, are being developed to support future needs. A thorough understanding of processing windows, based on fundamental knowledge and validated models, will enable greater responsiveness and predictability.
Materials Aging and Reliability:
We develop the understanding of chemical and physical mechanisms that cause materials properties to change. The primary purpose is to develop mechanistic-based predictive models of materials reliability to support assessments of system reliability and lifetime. Important mechanisms that must be understood involve both the intrinsic thermodynamic drivers associated with the materials and extrinsic kinetic drivers associated with the environments in which the materials are used. Development and application of state-of-the-art materials characterization capabilities are needed to enable detection of early, subtle changes in microstructure and properties.