Materials Sciences and Engineering

The Materials Sciences and Engineering Program within BES supports fundamental studies of materials sciences and engineering to improve the efficiency, economy, environmental acceptability, and safety in energy generation, conversion, transmission, and use.

The goals of the Materials Sciences & Engineering program at Sandia are to

• Conduct forefront, interdisciplinary research
• Nurture innovation and attract and retains outstanding scientists
• Form world-class collaborations with universities and other national labs
• Use Sandia’s facilities to enhance scientific impact

Sandia’s Materials Sciences portfolio includes eight projects. Each project targets specific scientific questions:

Nanometer Scale Surface & Interface Phenomena

• What scientific principles govern the formation and stability of nanostructures on surfaces?
• What determines the electrochemical and structural evolution of surfaces and interfaces?

Active Assembly of Dynamic Adaptable Materials

• How can the molecular machinery of living organisms be exploited for the active assembly/disassembly and control of nanomaterials?
• How can living cellular materials be integrated in microfabricated systems?

Nanomechanics & Nanometallurgy of Boundaries

• What are the underlying mechanisms of mechanical behavior and energy dissipation at small length scales?
• How does this affect static and dynamic structure and evolution?

Molecular Nanocomposites

• What unique functions and emergent behaviors can be derived from novel nanocomposite materials?
• Can nanoscale features be controlled to achieve specific behaviors?

Novel Electronic Materials

• What controls the radiative and nonradiative recombination of excitons in wide-band-gap nitrides?
• How can we use magnetic fields to create composite materials? What new behaviors can be engineered?

Quantum Electronic Phenomena & Structure

• Can quantum electronic structures be controlled at the wavefunction level to elicit novel properties?
• What new collective quantum states can be discovered?

Field Structured Composites

• Using magnetic fields to create composite materials, what new behaviors can be structurally and compositionally engineered?