Intrinsically Tough and Affordable Ceramics Today (INTACT) Information Session

Background
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is sponsoring an Information Session webcast to provide information to potential proposers on the objectives of the anticipated Intrinsically Tough and Affordable Ceramics Today (INTACT) Disruption Opportunity (DO). The session aims to introduce the research community, including industry, academia, and government, to the INTACT vision and goals while explaining the mechanics of a DARPA DO and its milestones. DARPA anticipates releasing the INTACT DO in January 2025.

Work Details
The INTACT program will explore new approaches to produce tough monolithic ceramic materials. It focuses on atomic-scale toughening mechanisms that afford ceramics with ductile characteristics similar to metallic systems, contrasting with fiber reinforcement strategies used in ceramic matrix composites.

The program is particularly interested in applying emerging nonequilibrium processing techniques to engineer defects such as vacancies, dislocations, phase, and grain boundaries into ceramic materials to facilitate fine-scale plastic deformation. Techniques like mechanical work akin to forging and rapid thermal quench rates through laser and electron beam processing are expected to create radically new ceramic microstructures that enhance bulk fracture toughness while maintaining a balance of properties. All awards resulting from the INTACT DO will be Other Transactions (OTs) for prototype projects under the authority of 10 U.S.C. § 4022.

Period of Performance
The Information Session will take place on January 21, 2025, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., with anticipation for the INTACT DO release in January 2025.

Place of Performance
The Information Session will be conducted via webcast.