DENA0003975

The Chicago/Doe Alliance Center (CDAC) is dedicated to basic research, training, and technique development in the study of materials in extreme conditions. The center has enabled numerous advances in high P-T science, technology, and training since its inception 16 years ago as the Carnegie/Doe Alliance Center. These advances include student and postdoc-led scientific discoveries and a successful track record in training early career scientists for work in the NNSA complex.

Materials of interest encompass crystalline solids, fluids and glasses, nanostructured to mesostructured materials, and complex composites. Chemically these materials include d- and f-electron elements and alloys, low-Z molecular compounds, energetic materials and detonation products, dense gases, metal oxides and hydrides, and chemically heterogeneous substances. CDAC will advance understanding of these stewardship-related classes of materials in extreme conditions in the following six material property thrusts:

(1) High P-T structures and phase relations;
(2) P-V-T equations of state;
(3) Phonons, vibrational thermodynamics, and elasticity;
(4) Plasticity, yield strength, and deformation;
(5) Electronic and magnetic structure and dynamics;
(6) High P-T chemistry.

For each of these above materials and properties thrusts, CDAC will address new questions, including the following:

• How can we understand, predict, and control matter and materials to very high compressions?
• What new physics may emerge in 'cold' to 'warm' dense matter?
• How can we accurately determine fundamental thermodynamic properties to very high P and T?
• How do defects, grain boundaries, and interfaces respond to high P-T conditions and strain rates?
• How can we better measure time-dependent transformations, and bridge strain-rate gaps between static, quasi-static, and dynamic compression?
• Can we better determine strength, plasticity, and rheology at very high P-T conditions?
• Can we expand the high P-T synthetic chemistry frontier to produce new, optimized materials?

CDAC will address these questions with both static and dynamic compression experiments together with theory, modeling, and simulation in CDAC university laboratories as well as DOE/SC and DOE/NNSA facilities. The work will be enabled by continued access to CDAC's partner synchrotron radiation facilities, High Pressure Collaborative Access Team (HPCAT) at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and the Frontier Infrared Spectroscopy (FIS) beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source II, Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), as well as other facilities. The overarching scientific outcome is advancing fundamental understanding of materials behavior in extreme conditions, which in turn will lead to improved understanding of materials aging, performance of newly manufactured materials, materials in multiple extreme environments, and the creation of new materials.

CDAC engagement with NNSA programs at ANL and with its partner groups in Illinois will be significantly enhanced by its move to the University of Illinois (UIC). CDAC will continue its active program in education and training of next-generation researchers for stewardship science. In so doing, CDAC will host student workshops and sponsor meetings and symposia for the broader community. The center will facilitate student engagement with NNSA laboratories and be a vehicle for introducing early career scientists to NNSA laboratory programs. The center will continue to closely collaborate with other academic groups, other SSAA awardees, and national laboratory scientists. CDAC will continue to leverage the SSAA cooperative agreement with additional grants, which so far have multiplied by several times the impact and investment of NNSA in the center. Finally, CDAC will continue to support use of NNSA facilities, including NIF, Z, and LANSCE, and feasibility studies for next-generation NNSA facilities.

University Of Illinois

THE NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION (NNSA), OFFICE OF RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, TEST, AND EVALUATION SPONSOR THE STEWARDSHIP SCIENCE ACADEMIC ALLIANCES (SSAA) PROGRAM. NNSA ANTICIPATES PROVIDING CONTINUED ANNUAL FUNDING FOR THIS PROGRAM IN ORDER TO SUPPORT HIGH-QUALITY, MULTI-YEAR RESEARCH PROJECTS BY ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS IN PRIMARY AREAS OF INTEREST TO DEFENSE PROGRAMS. THE TOPICAL RESEARCH AREA ADDRESSED BY THE FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA) WAS PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS UNDER EXTREME CONDITIONS. THE OBJECTIVES OF THE SSAA PROGRAM ARE:  SUPPORT THE U.S. SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY BY FUNDING BASIC RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AT UNIVERSITIES THAT ARE OF RELEVANCE TO STOCKPILE STEWARDSHIP GOALS (SEE SECTION III.A FOR ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS);  PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTELLECTUAL CHALLENGE AND COLLABORATION BY PROMOTING SCIENTIFIC INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ACADEMIC COMMUNITY AND SCIENTISTS AT THE DOE/NNSA NATIONAL LABORATORIES; AND  DEVELOP AND MAINTAIN A LONG-TERM RECRUITING PIPELINE SUPPORTING THE DOE/NNSA LABORATORIES BY TRAINING AND EDUCATING THE NEXT GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS IN FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH OF RELEVANCE TO STOCKPILE STEWARDSHIP GOALS, INCREASING THE VISIBILITY OF THE DOE/NNSA SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES TO THE U.S. ACADEMIC COMMUNITIES

81.112 - Stewardship Science Grant Program

National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) [DOE]

NNSA Weapons Activities [DOE - NNSA]

Multi-State United States

Multi-State

Stewardship Science Academic Alliances (SSAA) Program (DE-FOA-0002149)

Amendment Since initial award the End Date has been extended from 06/30/24 to 12/31/24 and the total obligations have increased 300% from $2,000,000 to $8,000,000.