Collaborative Research Alliance (CRA) for Materials in Extreme Dynamic Environments (MEDE)

The U.S. Army Contracting Command – Aberdeen Proving Ground (Soldier, Chemical, Research & Test), RTP Contracting Division, on behalf of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), is issuing a Program Announcement (PA), W911NF-11-R-0001, for the establishment of a Collaborative Research Alliance (CRA) for Materials in Extreme Dynamic Environments (MEDE). The U.S. Army Research Laboratory is seeking to develop the capability to design, optimize, and fabricate lightweight protection material systems exhibiting revolutionary performance. The approach is to realize a “Materials by Design” capability by establishing a new Collaborative Research Alliance (CRA) focused on Materials in Extreme Dynamic Environments (MEDE). The focus of the CRA will be to advance the fundamental understanding of materials in relevant high strain rate and high stress regimes. The CRA is intended to create a collaborative environment that enables an Alliance of participants from academia, government and potentially industry and/or non-profit organizations to advance the state of the art and assist with the transition of research to enhance the performance of materials of interest to the U.S. Army. The ARL believes that the establishment of this CRA, as part of an ARL “Enterprise for Multiscale Research of Materials” and in conjunction with a robust internal mission program, provides the optimum path to success. It is envisioned that the results of the MEDE CRA research will be efficiently and rapidly transitioned to ARL in-house research and development programs.To address this problem, the MEDE CRA seeks proposals focusing on one polymer, one metal, one ceramic, and one composite material system. A successful program will demonstrate a comprehensive “materials-by-design” capability for materials in high strain rate and high stress environments and for each of the four material classes listed above address the following core elements: (1) Advanced Experimental Techniques: Develop experimental methodologies to interrogate and characterize the in-situ materials response to extreme dynamic environments at critical length and time scales; (2) Modeling and Simulation: Develop computational approaches to predict the materials response to extreme dynamic environments at critical length and time scales; (3) Bridging the Scales: Develop physical and mathematical constructs necessary to bridge critical length and time scales; (4) Material Characteristics and Properties at Multiple Scales: Utilize existing and novel experimental methodologies to validate computational approaches in order to bridge the characteristic length and time scales, and to identify the comprehensive set of material characteristics, microstructural features and dynamic properties that govern high stress and high strain-rate deformation and failure phenomena ; and (5) Synthesis and Processing: Incorporate research discoveries to enable the synthesis of novel materials and the processing of final products with critical material characteristics and resulting properties.The MEDE CRA PA can be found at http://www.arl.army.mil/CRAMEDE.

This PA will result in the award of one Cooperative Agreement (CA) as defined at 31 U.S.C. 6305 for the execution of the program. The CA will be awarded to a Consortium of organizations that may include academic, industrial and non-profit organizations. To assure the creation of a well focused research program, the consortium will be kept small, with an optimally sized consortium containing no more than six members. The Consortium must be led by an academic institution that will be charged with spearheading the focused research program. Additionally, it is required that “covered educational institutions” (to include Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions) shall receive 5-10% of the annual CA funding.Under this PA, proposals are sought to select the consortium for the MEDE CRA. Planned funding levels for the CA are set forth in the MEDE CRA PA. Contingent upon available funding, the Army expects to support the MEDE CRA for five years with an option for an additional five years. An Opportunity Conference was held on Friday, 19 November 2010 and an Open House was held on 16 December 2010. Briefings, Posters, Q&A’s, and links from these events can be found at: http://www.arl.army.mil/www/default.cfm?page=532 Proposals for the Materials in Extreme Dynamic Environments (MEDE) Collaborative Research Alliance are due 07 March 2011 with an award expected in February 2012.