Advanced Behavior and Life Prediction of Aerospace Materials

The Advanced Behavior and Life Prediction of Aerospace Materials Program shall advance state-of-the-art materials performance assessment and prediction capability by developing more efficient and comprehensive methods across modeling, simulation, and experimental domains on-site at AFRL/RXC located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Research efforts shall range from proof-of-concept to technology development, demonstration, and transition.

The objective of the program is to conduct on-site research at AFRL/RXC to develop a comprehensive understanding of the performance of aerospace materials under anticipated usage conditions in order to: a) understand and predict the influence of processing and material variation on the resulting material performance; b) develop next-generation validated deformation, damage initiation and evolution, and material property/performance probabilistic prediction methodologies incorporating multiscale and other characteristics necessary for forecasting initial performance, durability, and reliability during service; c) characterize and accurately model/simulate the variability in material behavior and properties to enable design and field usage assessment of aerospace propulsion and structural components along with components of weapons systems; and d) accelerate the development and insertion of materials that have been optimized for critical location-specific properties through advanced manufacturing techniques such as additive manufacturing.

Aerospace materials systems subject to investigation include, but are not limited to, aluminum, titanium, steel, high entropy alloys, nickel-based alloys, advanced intermetallics, ceramics, ceramic matrix composites, silicon carbide (SiC) fibers and matrices, advanced structural fibers, carbon-carbon composites, inorganic polymers and their composites, and polymer matrix composites.

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