Future Program: Intrinsically Tough and Affordable Ceramics Today (INTACT)

Background
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is issuing this Special Notice to inform the public about additional research areas of interest related to the forthcoming INTACT program.

The INTACT program aims to explore innovative approaches for developing intrinsically tough and affordable ceramics, which are critical for various structural applications. This initiative is part of DARPA's broader mission to advance national security through innovative technologies.

Work Details
The INTACT program will focus on producing tough monolithic ceramic materials by employing atomistic scale toughening mechanisms that provide ceramics with ductile characteristics similar to metals.

Key tasks include:
- Exploring non-equilibrium processing techniques to engineer defects such as vacancies, dislocations, and grain boundaries in ceramic materials;
- Accommodating fine-scale plastic deformation;
- Utilizing mechanical work and rapid thermal quenching methods (e.g., laser and electron beam processing) to create new ceramic microstructures.

The goal is to achieve breakthroughs in bulk fracture toughness while maintaining a balance of high strength, stiffness, environmental resistance, and reduced density compared to metal alloys.

Period of Performance
The specific period of performance for the INTACT program has not been detailed in this notice.

Place of Performance
The geographic location(s) for the performance of the contract have not been specified.