The MaDCoR research group was started in December 2015 with a focus on the study of the complex degradation mechanisms of materials subjected to corrosion and irradiation. Corrosion and irradiation pose significant challenges for the implementation of new and existing designs in a number of extreme environments, including current and advanced nuclear reactors, fusion energy devices, particle accelerators, thermal engines for aerospace applications, and more. Continued progress in these areas is often most limited by finding materials able to withstand them. Bill Gates, who has helped fund the nuclear startup Terrapower, has said, “all of our biggest challenges have been in materials science.” (MIT Q&A, 2016).
For example, in current light water nuclear fission reactors, high temperature water and neutron irradiation cause significant oxidation and deformation of zirconium fuel cladding, swelling and reduced conductivity of uranium dioxide fuel pellets, and embrittlement and corrosion of steel structural components, all of which increase the cost and reduce the lifespan of reactors. Next generation reactors seek to operate in even more challenging conditions, with higher temperatures, more energetic neutrons, exotic coolants such as liquid sodium or lead, molten salt, or helium, or a combination of all!
To implement these reactors, the complex coupling between temperature, stress, irradiation, and corrosion needs to be understood for a wide range of materials. However, these phenomena span several orders of magnitudes of length and time scales, making modeling tricky and requiring clever experimental techniques.
Thus, the MaDCoR vision is to 
For instance, research in the MaDCoR laboratory focuses on:
- Study of aqueous corrosion with pressurized water reactor (PWR) relevant temperatures and pressures.
- Innovative approaches to develop new alloys…
- resistant to molten salt corrosion through the coupling of in-situ alloying using additive manufacturing with high-throughput high-temperature electrochemistry and machine learning models.
- with enhanced irradiation tolerance using additive manufacturing, high-throughput ion irradiation, and state-of-the-art electron microscopy and mechanical testing.
The group is always recruiting at every level, from undergraduates to research scientists, so if interested, please do not hesitate to contact Prof. Adrien Couet or other group members!
Come to Wisconsin and join the MaDCoR group!