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How ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ and Airbus partnered to explore the potential of quantum computing in advancing materials science for aerospace innovation.

With their focus on innovation and long-term strategic advantage, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½â€™s Quantum Lab (Q Lab) and Airbus collaborate to explore how quantum computing could be applied to complex materials science challenges. One such challenge was modeling the atomic-scale processes that govern surface reactions in metallic environments – an ideal test case for quantum-enabled computational chemistry.

Corrosion is a well-known challenge across a wide range of industries, from manufacturing to infrastructure, with estimated global costs . Understanding the fundamental processes of corrosion remains an important area of materials research – especially as the aerospace industry continually seeks to improve performance, longevity, material efficiency and decrease In aerospace, corrosion often leads to significant barriers to growth like reduced efficiency, decreased aircraft lifespans, and increased maintenance costs.

A deep dive into how materials behave at microscopic level

Over time, chemical reactions take place between materials and elements in their environment, such as exposure to oxygen and moisture, gradually degrading them and compromising their integrity and underscoring the need for high-performance surface protection solutions. Accurately modeling these processes provides insight not only into degradation mechanisms but also into material stability and performance. For aerospace, where materials like copper-rich aluminum alloys are widely used for their lightweight and structural properties, such insights can inform the development of next-generation components and coatings.

Current preventive measures, such as aircraft maintenance and corrosion stage assessment, are reliant on experimental data and computational predictive models. These models break corrosion into different levels that span its multi-scale nature: microscopic, mesoscopic and macroscopic.

The most challenging layer to model is the microscopic level. Accurately modeling the chemical reactions that occur on this scale requires a deep knowledge of atomic processes, fine-tuned calculations, and highly complex and expensive equipment. This is particularly true for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which plays a vital role in the corrosion of aluminum alloys and is notoriously difficult to measure experimentally.

Taking on the oxygen reduction reaction

ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½â€™s Q Lab and Airbus focused their efforts on this reaction, with the aim of developing a hybrid quantum computing workflow to assess the ORR at the molecular level. Studying the initial step of this reaction would bring aerospace organizations a step closer to building more accurate predictive models. Considering that the aluminum alloys that are most relevant for the aerospace industry are rich in copper, the research team decided to model the ORR on a copper slab. They then used a combination of quantum chemistry methods to identify the critical geometries and pathways necessary to explore the reaction using quantum computation.

The research team conducted a detailed quantum resource estimation to assess the role quantum computers will play in tackling similar problems in the field of materials science. This research provided an overview of the technological requirements necessary to explore similar use cases using quantum computing, including the hardware, algorithms, and qubits needed for such models and calculations.

A new horizon for quantum computing

This hybrid quantum computing workflow was the first of its kind. As a result of these collaborative efforts, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ and Airbus established an essential foundation for applying quantum computation to atomistic modelling, highlighting its potential to address complex, business-relevant challenges in aerospace and materials science.

Though this research represents a big step forward for organizations, it also underlines the need for significant advancements in quantum hardware, algorithms, and error-correction techniques to make quantum computation viable for business use.

As industries look ahead towards the future of quantum computation, it’s clear that now is the time to determine how quantum computing can make a difference for companies across industries.

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