Restricted Research - Award List, Note/Discussion Page
Fiscal Year: 2023
2363 The University of Texas at San Antonio (144251)
Principal Investigator: Sooby,Elizabeth Sheridan
Total Amount of Contract, Award, or Gift (Annual before 2011): $ 242,019
Exceeds $250,000 (Is it flagged?): No
Start and End Dates: 7/1/22 - 6/30/23
Restricted Research: YES
Academic Discipline: none
Department, Center, School, or Institute: COS PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY
Title of Contract, Award, or Gift: Integration of in situ Monitoring and Artificial Intelligence in the Synthesis of Uranium Alloys and Compounds to inform Performance Following Melt Fabrication Processes
Name of Granting or Contracting Agency/Entity:
United States Department of Energy
CFDA Link: DOE
81.049
Program Title:
none
CFDA Linked: Office of Science Financial Assistance Program
Note:
SAMs 1.1.1 The objective of this project is to develop and test a methodology to rapidly inform on the melt synthesis and resulting properties of uranium alloys and compounds to reduce time-to and cost-of-discovery for melt-synthesized materials, while maturing a capability with the potential to predict performance for a broader set of materials and fabrication methods. Uranium compounds will be the testbed materials for the project, leveraging the PI’s extensive expertise in nuclear fuel fabrication and uranium physical chemistry. Thermal and optical imaging as well as pyrometry facilitate in situ monitoring of the melt, solidification and rapid/quenched cooling of arc melt synthesized compounds. Collecting data for known systems will supply ample data to train and then test Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms, enabling a predictive and eventually prescriptive capability to reduce time for material discovery, short-cutting post synthesis characterization. Importantly, the methods developed can be adapted to other melt-based synthesis and processing methods (e.g.) welding and/or direct energy deposition (DED) additive manufacturing methods (i.e. laser powder bed fusion).
Discussion: No discussion notes