MGI emphasizes integration of tools, theories, models, and data from basic scientific research with the processing, manufacturing, and deployment of materials. The Materials Innovation Infrastructure will enable this integration by providing access to digital resources that contain the property data of known materials as well as the computational and experimental tools to predict these characteristics for new and emerging materials. Example applications include using integrated tool sets to identify replacements for critical materials, and then translating these new materials into the production pipeline. Ultimately, seamless integration of fundamental, validated understanding can be incorporated into the simulation and modeling tools used for materials discovery, product and manufacturing designs, component life predictions, and informed maintenance protocols.
The DOE EERE Fuel Cell Technologies Office maintains a publicly accessible database of the material properties of hydrogen storage materials (adsorbents, chemicals, and reversible hydrides). The database collects information from experimentation and computational models developed both with and without DOE funding, with the intent of accelerating the development of hydrogen storage materials.
A team of researchers from the Air Force Research Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University, Petra III (Germany), PulseRay, and Cornell University have developed a revolutionary experimental capability using high energy synchrotron x-ray techniques to non-destructively measure the internal structure and micro-mechanical state of deforming polycrystalline solids.