Dr. Zurob was awarded a CFI-LOF grant for the development of a unique facility for the preparation of functionally graded material.  The facility led to national and international collaborations on the developments of FGMs.  Our group was able to demonstrate that these graded microstructures possess combinations of toughness, formability and strength that far exceed those of homogenous materials.  With the help of our collaborators and industry partners we have investigated to the use of graded materials for automotive exhaust systems, electric steels, earthquake resistant gusset plates and armor plates.