Field Trips

Tours of industrial materials facilities will emphasize the importance of understanding how structure determines properties and how the structure-property relationship is actually utilized in industry. The field trips were specifically chosen to illustrate various processing and manufacturing procedures used for metals, polymers and ceramics.

Typical tour bus used for 
transportation to and from field trip sites.

The processing and manufacturing of metals will be demonstrated in field trips to Corus Tuscaloosa (formerly Tuscaloosa Steel), and Mercedes-Benz International, Inc., (manufacturing of the M-class vehicle). A tour of Blue Circle Cement will illustrate the industrial processing of ceramics. The manufacturing and processing of polymers will be demonstrated by a field trip to Radici Spandex Corp. (formerly Globe Elastic). The processing and manufacturing of thin film materials used for information technology will be demonstrated by a tour of JVC-America, Inc. A field trip to the NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center will be included to emphasize the importance of materials in science and research.