Materials for the Future pillar strategy
We pursue the discovery science and engineering for advanced and new materials to intentionally control functionality and predict performance to enable our missions.
- Predictable performance: the ability to reliably and consistently forecast how a material will perform over its lifetime.
- Controlled functionality: the actual design and tailoring of a material’s properties that were previously unattainable or not available with traditional techniques.
We predict performance and control functionality through forefront science and engineering that crosscuts three science themes:
- Defects and Interfaces
- Extreme Environment
- Emergent Phenomena
Historical roots of the Materials for the Future pillar
Exploring the physics, chemistry, and metallurgy of materials has been a primary focus of Los Alamos since its founding. Our Laboratory’s proud history of advancing the science of materials includes discoveries instrumental in ending World War II.
Subsequent advances in understanding nuclear materials, developing insensitive high explosives, and creating materials for fusion reactions, radiation casings, and neutron sources have enabled a safe, reliable nuclear weapons deterrent. Los Alamos’s materials science expertise has been instrumental in keeping the world safe for more than 70 years and it will be vital for a future world with evolving and emerging threats.
Materials Organizations
Institute for Materials Science
Explosive Science and Shock Physics
Materials Physics and Applications Division
Materials Science and Technology Division