MIT-ONR Workshop Covers Functionally Graded Structural Materials

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MIT-ONR Workshop Covers Functionally Graded Structural Materials This article is a modified version of a report sent to the Office of Naval Research, to the MIT-ONR workshop attendees, and to FGM News in Japan.

An international workshop on Functionally Graded Structural Materials was held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology March 28-29, 1994 under the sponsorship of the Materials Processing Center at MIT and the Office of Naval Research. The workshop was organized with two goals in mind: (1) to provide a forum for technical discussion within the rapidly growing community of researchers interested in the functionally graded materials (FGM) concept as applied to structural materials and (2) to provide other members of the United States structural-materials community with a source of information on the concept, from which they could gain a firsthand introduction to its underlying philosophy and its potential for structural applications. In composing the program, we, as workshop co-chairs, sought to provide an international overview of current research on functionally graded structural materials, covering both the processing and mechanics of these materials. The structure of the workshop comprised (1) an introductory presentation by the co-chairs to define its theme and agenda, (2) technical presentations combining general overviews of work abroad, with more detailed presentations of domestic research, and (3) panel discussions to identify future research needs and possible thrusts of future research in the U.S. The goals we had set in organizing the workshop were all met. Discussions were not only lively, but showed enthusiasm for, and agreement on, the opportunities available and the research necessary in the field of functionally graded structural materials. Attendance was strong, with significant representation from industry, academia, and government, both in the U.S. and abroad. All invited foreign speakers attended, providing the workshop with five of the most significant organizers of research on functionally graded materials outside the U.S. Key speakers from Austria and Sweden also attended. Among U.S. attendants and speakers, industry was represented by 19 registrants from 14 companies ranging from large corporations

(such as Westinghouse Corporation, United Technologies Research Center, and Alcoa) to much smaller ones (such as Ultraclad Corporation). Academia was represented by 15 U.S. universities. Government attendees numbered 14 representatives from national laboratories and governmental agencies, including the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Department of Energy (DOE). Presentations from the Japanese delegation showed a high level of organization on the part of their national FGM project. The program combines breadth in its overall spectrum of activities and goals, but is focused on target applications (e.g., in the first program, actively cooled structural materials for extr