Main Topic

Understand the behavior of materials under extreme environments of temperature, deformation and irradiation to predict and design materials with optimal performance.

Why?

Materials fail to withstand the extreme environments posed by advanced applications, lowering their efficiency (power generation, aerospace, transportation, etc).
Known materials do not provide the expected/desired properties (batteries, fuel cells, conducting materials, transportation).
Control over material properties is insufficient (explosives, soft matter).
Current theory and modeling does not fully predict materials behavior.