Yves Bréchet, Professor of materials science at the Grenoble Institute of Technology, will discuss the theme of »Materials and process selection: a compass in a jungle«.
The number of materials and processes available to the designer has literally exploded while the requirements have become more and more stringent and even contradictory, so that the current situation is both of a »hyperchoice« between existing options and of a »hyperdemand« for developing new solutions.
This situation has triggered the development of systematic comparison methods enabling, thanks to the use of structured databases, a compass in a materials jungle and a guide for materials by design.
The lecture will propose an overview of the current situation and of the open issues: comparative approaches for materials and process selection, learning from past experience, expertise guides and materials by design approaches. It will illustrate the potential of »architectured materials« to combine materials, geometry, topology for »filling holes in materials space«, and will outline the potential of »nature inspiration« to extract innovative concepts for developing new materials.
Yves Bréchet graduated from École Polytechnique (1981) with a degree in the history of science and solid-state physics. He obtained his doctorate from Grenoble Institute of Technology (INPG). He is a professor at INPG, a guest professor at McMaster University (Canada) and a member of the Institut Universitaire de France. Since November 2010 he has also been a member of the French Académie des Sciences and professor at the Collège de France. His research focuses on the field of modelling in physical and mechanical metallurgy. He is interested in phase changes, plasticity, fragility and material sciences in biological systems, as well as materials in nuclear technology and transport systems. He is also working on methods of material selection and the development of hybrid materials and is involved in research into natural materials and their structural biometrics.