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Introduction
One of the major challenges in materials science today is developing materials that can survive and function in extreme environments, such as the high-radiation environments found in a fission or fusion reactor or the ultra-high temperature experienced by a hypervelocity vessel or a spacecraft traveling through Earth’s atmosphere on its return to the planet’s surface. What is needed to discover such materials was the topic of a 2-day workshop held at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on October 5–6, 2022.1 That workshop, titled Materials in Extreme Environments: New Monitoring Tools and Data-Driven Approaches, brought together an international collection of experts on the testing and measurement of materials in extreme environments and on discovering and developing new materials. It was held both in person and online, with many of the participants gathered at the National Academies’ Keck Center and others following along and contributing remotely.
This Proceedings of a Workshop recaps the presentations and discussions that took place during the 2 days of the workshop. It is structured to follow the workshop presentation by presentation, with no attempt to synthesize the discussions, although some workshop speakers themselves did offer syntheses and summaries, which are reproduced here as they occurred. The workshop was not intended to develop any findings or recommendations, and any opinions expressed or recommen-
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1 More information about the workshop can be found at https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/frontiers-in-data-analytics-and-monitoring-tools-for-extreme-materials-a-workshop.
dations offered in this proceedings are solely the products of the individuals who offered them and do not represent an official position of the National Academies.
As Olivia Graeve, University of California, San Diego, the chair of the workshop’s planning committee, explained in her opening remarks that what was unique about the workshop was how it brought together two different sets of tools that can be used in understanding the behavior of materials in extreme environments. The first set comprised various sorts of microscopes and other monitoring tools that can be used to characterize these materials, while the second consists of new data analytics tools, such as machine learning capabilities. By combining the observational tools with data analytics tools, it is possible to characterize the behavior of materials in extreme environments much more quickly and in greater details than has been possible in the past. One particular focus of the workshop, she said, was how the combination of monitoring tools and data analytics could be applied to better understand materials processing approaches such as three-dimensional printing. Finally, she noted that the workshop was structured so that the first day would focus mainly on materials processing and manufacturing, while the second day would be devoted mainly to materials testing.