The work “Deformation Mechanism Map of Cu/Nb Nanoscale Metallic Multilayers as a Function of Temperature and Layer Thickness”, done by some of our researchers, has been elected as best paper in structural materials for year 2018 by JOM journal.

IMDEA Materials Institute has received a new award. This time, an article signed by some of its scientists has been chosen as the best published in the international JOM magazine. JOM magazine is the communication organ of the TMS, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, professional and international society of scientists and engineers that investigate new materials and of which they form part 13,000 researchers from 70 countries.

The article chosen as the best annual publication of JOM, Deformation mechanisms map of Cu / Nb nanoscale metallic multilayers as a function of temperature and layer thickness describes a work carried out by the researchers of the IMDEA Materials Institute of Madrid. In this work, the IMDEA Materials scientists explain, for the first time, some of the key features in the production of metallic nanomaterials manufactured using a technique known as Accumulated Roll Bonding. This technique allows to produce sheets of large dimensions obtained by alternating nanosheets of two different metals. These sheets, with thicknesses of less than 100 nanometers (one nanometer is one millionth of a millimeter), give the new material properties that make it a very interesting alternative for the manufacture of transport vehicles. And is that the resulting material with the alternation of nanosheets of two metals has mechanical properties much higher than those with the two metals used separately. For example, sheets made with those nanometric sheets of iron and aluminum weigh 30% less than the resistance steels they could replace.

The research that publishes the award-winning article has been directed by Jon Molina-Aldareguía, responsible for the research program on Multiscale Characterization of Materials and Processes, and by Javier LLorca, scientific director of the IMDEA Materials Institute and has been carried out in collaboration with the University of California in Santa Barbara and the National Research Laboratory of Los Alamos in New Mexico, both in the United States. The work has been funded by the VIRMETAL project of the European Research Council.

Jon Molina-Aldareguía will pick up the award on March 11th during the annual TMS meeting held in San Antonio, Texas.