Functionally Graded Materials

Functionally graded materials (FGM) are considered one of the most promising materials among the class of advanced fabricated materials. They consist of two or more different materials, where the composition continuously varies along a dimension following a particular function. FGMs are conceived as a solution to solve high-stress concentration, high-temperature creep and material delamination challenges that are common in other fabricated materials such as composites. These enhanced thermal and mechanical properties render FGM a suitable candidate for manufacturing structures of airplanes, automobile engine components and protective coatings for turbine blades. Due to the applications in the fields of aerospace, automobile, medicine and energy, the research efforts to characterize the mechanical and thermal properties of FGMs have increased rapidly in recent years.

My work on functionally graded Cu-Ni nanowire is the first molecular dynamics study on functionally graded materials. In this work, I co-developed a NanoHub tool to generate functionally graded structures for LAMMPS. The tool has 54 users across 6 continents.  In addition, we have investigated the modulating effects of the grading function on elastic and vibrational properties, and compared the MD results with various micromechanical models. The work has been published in Elsevier's Composites Part B: Engineering (IF: 7.635). 

I think the potential of FGMs in nanoscale applications is very promising.