By engineering the length scales, morphology, crystallography and chemistry of interfaces, nanocomposites can deliver mechanical properties that exceed what could be achieved from a single-phase material alone. The January, 2019 issue of MRS Bulletin  highlights recent developments in mechanics of nanocomposites that are composed of a combination of metallic, polymer, biological, and ceramic materials and outline the challenges and opportunities for future research directions.

This webinar expanded on the Bulletin issue, and an interactive Q&A was held with each of the speakers following their talks.

Talk Presentations:

• Mechanical Behavior of Nanocomposites
  Markus Buehler, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  Talk begins at 11:58
    
• Interface Engineering: Multi-scale Interface Design in Solids
  Jian Wang, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  Talk begins at 47:42
     
• Interplay of Structure and Mechanics in Silk/Carbon Nanocomposites
  David Kaplan, Tufts University
  Talk begins at 1:13:07
     

Sponsors:

Piezotronics and piezophototronics are two newly coined fields for third-generation semiconductors that actively couple the strain-induced polarization potential with the mobile charge carrier transport behavior. The fundamental effects are likely to impact the design and fabrication of electronic and photonic devices for mechanosensation, human-machine interfacing, robotics, artificial intelligence, sensors, LEDs, solar cells, and catalysis. The December, 2018 issue of MRS Bulletin highlights the progress made in these two fields.

This webinar will expand on the Bulletin issue, and an interactive Q&A will be held with each of the speakers following their talks.

Talk Presentations:

• Pietzotronics and Piezo-phototronics – History and Updated Progress
  Zhong Lin Wang, Georgia Institute of Technology
  Talk begin at 9:26
     
• Piezotronic Sensors
  Till Frömling, Technical University Darmstadt
  Talk begins at 48:35
     
• 2D Materials for Piezotronics and Piezo-phototronics
  Wenzhuo Wu, Purdue University
  Talk begins at 1:08:15
     

3D Printing has revolutionized most manufacturing sectors by significantly reducing time to produce elements and minimizing cost related to manufacturing parts with higher complexity. The focus is no longer on low-quality plastic parts that are primarily used for ‘touch and feel’ or design validation, but on functional components of metals, ceramics, polymers,and composites that are now routinely manufactured using 3DP and used in almost all sectors from space to toys to biomedical devices. 3DP-related businesses have grown to multi-billion dollar enterprises around the world, and the growth rate continues to rise for most manufacturing sectors worldwide. However, application of 3DP in biomedical devices is still relatively new and only recently have regulatory bodies in different countries begun to approve 3D-printed devices for human use.

This webinar highlights work presented in the Journal of Materials Research Focus Issue on 3D Printing of Biomaterials. An interactive Q&A was held with each of the speakers following their talks.

Talk Presentations

• Clinical significance of 3D printing in treatment of bone disorder: Opportunities and challenges
  Susmita Bose, Washington State University
  Talk begins at 6:26
     
• 3D Printing Platform and 3D Printed Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering
  Yunzhi Peter Yang, Stanford University
  Talk begins at 33:04
     
• 3D Bioprinting of Living Tissues
  İbrahim Tarik Özbolat, Penn State University
  Talk begins at 57:50

Talk Presentations:

• Magnetoelectric Magnetic Field Sensors
  Eckhard Quandt, Kiel University
  Talk begins at 11:19
     
• Strain-mediated magnetoelectric storage, transmission, and processing
  John P. Domann, Virginia Tech
  Talk begins at 44:28
     
• Sub-Nanosecond Magnetization Dynamics Driven by Strain Waves
  Michael Foerster, Alba Synchrotron Light Facility
  Talk begins at 1:17:32
     

High entropy alloys (HEAs) and the more broadly defined multi-principal-elements alloys (MPEAs) represent a major paradigm shift in alloy design. HEAs focus on the compositions near the center of a multicomponent phase diagram. By contrast, traditional alloys focus compositions on the boundaries (vertices, edges, or faces) of a phase diagram and typically consist of one principal element. Therefore, HEAs represent a tremendously vast compositional space that is largely unexplored by science. As an emerging field, research on HEAs has attracted rising worldwide attention and interest from both academia and industry since 2004. The number of published papers has increased rapidly each year, and there have been many dedicated conferences, symposia and workshops on HEAs. Traditional physical metallurgy principles as well as novel processing methods have all been applied to HEAs, and new materials with extraordinary properties have been reported. New results also show that traditional materials science concepts are inadequate to explain some of the newly observed behaviors, fueling intense development of new models for complex, concentrated alloys. The high-entropy concept has now been extended to ceramics, semiconductors, polymers, and a broad range of functional materials. As a result, the whole field has advanced dynamically and rapidly in almost every aspect of materials science and engineering.

The objective of the October 2018 Journal of Materials Research (JMR) Focus Issue on High-Entropy Alloys was to give a timely review of the present fundamental understanding of HEAs and their potential applications. This webinar expanded on the Focus Issue with talks and live Q&A with issue authors.

Talk Presentations:

• Development and Exploration of Refractory High Entropy Alloys
  Daniel Miracle, Air Force Research Laboratory
  Talk begins at 9:42
     
• Strengthening mechanisms in high entropy alloys
  Pedro Rivera-Diaz-Del-Castillo, Lancaster University
  Talk begins at 38:36
     
• Modeling the structure and thermodynamics of high entropy alloys
  Michael Widom, Carnegie Mellon University and Stéphane Gorsse, Institute for Solid State Chemistry Bordeaux (ICMBC)
  Talk begins at 56:24
     
• Electronic transport and phonon properties of maximally disordered alloys: from binaries to high entropy alloys
  George M. Stocks, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
  Talk begins at 1:22:12

Talk Presentations:

• Harnessing the Materials Project for machine learning and accelerated discovery
  Shyam Dwaraknath, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  Talk begins at 10:42
    
• NOMAD: The FAIR concept for big data-driven materials science
  Claudia Draxl, Fritz-Haber-Institut
  Talk begins at 42:01
    
• Accelerating the adoption of materials informatics
  Muratahan Aykol, Toyota Research Institute
  Talk begins at 1:00:16

Presented by Oxford Instruments Asylum Research

The atomic force microscope (AFM) provides unique capabilities for nanoscale characterization of photovoltaic materials and devices. It can probe local electrical and functional response in light or dark conditions with environmental control, and map surface structure with unprecedented resolution. In this webinar, we provide an overview of AFM applications for emerging photovoltaics including hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites and organic semiconductors. Our guest speaker, Dr. Rajiv Giridharagopal, discusses results using standard and advanced modes such as photoconductive AFM, piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), and time-resolved electrostatic force microscopy. Additional results are presented to further illustrate the power and versatility of AFMs for photovoltaic R&D.

Talk Presentations:

• F. Ted Limpoco, Oxford Instruments Asylum Research
  Talk begins at 3:25
     
• Rajiv Giridharagopal, The Ginger Group Lab, University of Washington–Seattle
  Talk begins at 10:56
     

Materials are an important contributor to technological progress, and yet the process of materials discovery and development has historically been inefficient. In general, the current innovation workflow is human-centered, where researchers design, conduct, analyze and interpret results obtained through experiments, simulations or literature review. Such results are often high-dimensional, large in number and heterogeneous in nature, which hinders a researcher’s ability to draw insight from this data manually. 

This webinar explores the synthesis of machine learning with materials research, highlighting a broad spectrum of topics in which machine learning, artificial intelligence, or statistics play a significant role in addressing problems in experimental and theoretical materials science. It also generated discussion on the fundamental connection between machine learning and material science, and its future application and impact.

This webinar was held in conjunction with the 2018 MRS Fall Meeting symposium of the same name.  

Talk Presentations:

• Machine Learning, AI, and Data-Driven Materials Development and Design
  Kristofer Reyes, University at Buffalo
  Talk begins at 9:26
     
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Accelerating Materials Discovery
  Carla Gomes, Cornell University
  Talk begins at 38:42
      
• Where Exactly Does One Actually Use AI in Materials Science?
  Jason Hattrick-Simpers, National Institute of Standards and Technology
  Talk begins at 1:17:56
     

With restrictions on hazardous substance usage in various applications comes lead-free compositions in certain piezoceramic applications. The current knowledge of primary piezoelectric properties has reached a sufficient level for use in applications, but research efforts continue toward a better understanding of secondary properties. Efforts to reduce the production and waste disposal of toxic lead has resulted in open avenues for new materials with properties better than lead zirconate titanate.

The August, 2018 issue of MRS Bulletin focused on ​Lead-free Piezoceramics, and this webinar builds on the information presented in the issue.  Attendees were able to participate in a live Q&A session with the speakers at the conclusion of each talk.

Talks:

• Lead-free Piezoelectrics - The Environmental and Regulatory Issues 
  Andrew Bell, University of Leeds
  Talk begins at 7:10
     
• Challenges in processing of potassium sodium niobate piezoelectric ceramics
  Barbara Malic, Jožef Stefan Institute
  Talk begins at 37:25
     
• Relaxor-ferroelectric Transitions: Sodium Bismuth Titanate Derivatives
  Jacob Jones, North Carolina State University
  Talk begins at 1:05:22
     

The advent of short-pulse electron and x-ray sources has enabled pump-probe approaches for elucidating ultrafast materials dynamics. The July, 2018 issue of MRS Bulletin provides a cross section of the vigorous activity occurring in the study of light-induced ultrafast materials dynamics as it relates to various approaches. 

The approaches highlighted are leading to new physical insights, possibilities for engineering the properties of matter, and a new understanding of materials functionality of ultrasmall and ultrashort spatiotemporal scales.

The talks in this webinar will build upon the information presented in the MRS Bulletin issue, and a live question-and-answer session with the speakers will follow each talk.

Talk Presentations:

• meV Energy Resolution in Energy Filtered Electron Microscopy
  Fabrizio Carbone, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
  Talk begins at 15:01
     
• Scanning ultrafast electron microscopy: Four-dimensional imaging of materials dynamics in space and time
  Presentation by Bolin Liao, University of California, Santa Barbara
  Q&A with Ding-Shyue (Jerry) Yang, University of Houston
  Talk begins at 40:19