The Advanced Materials Laboratory (AML) is a Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES) affiliated laboratory, which is a joint organization between Boise State University, the Idaho National Laboratory, the University of Idaho, and Idaho State University. Accordingly, much of the research in the AML addresses opportunities in advanced energy research through CAES collaborations and beyond. The AML research group is currently engaged in a variety of research programs, which are listed below along with more recent projects, including:
- Sensors for monitoring material’s behavior in a nuclear reactor core (Advance Sensors and Instrumentation Program, or ASI)
- Understanding radiation effects on the strength of grain boundaries in nuclear reactor structural materials produced via traditional methods as well as through advanced manufacturing techniques
- Synthesis and fabrication of black phosphorous materials for use in optoelectronic devices for data communication and detector applications
- The synthesis, characterization, and performance of traditional and advanced nuclear fuels with the U.S. Department of Energy, Idaho National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Ceramic to metal joining for high temperature and pressure super-critical carbon dioxide heat exchanger applications
- The synthesis and fabrication of irradiation resistant thermoelectric materials for thermoelectric generator applications.
Research in the Advanced Materials Research Group has been funded by:
National Science Foundation
Department of Energy
Department of Defense
Idaho National Laboratory
Battelle Energy Alliance
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Idaho Commerce through the IGEM program
Wright Patterson Air Force Base
HERC Foundation
Ceramatec Inc.
Pratt & Whitney
Advanced Ceramic Fibers, Inc.
Emisense, Inc.
Ecoservices, LLC
Boeing
Premier Technologies, Inc.
General Atomics, Inc.
Idaho Fish and Game