Research Opportunities

Metallurgical and materials engineering faculty conduct active research programs in many different topical areas, including solidification science and technology, cold spraying, mechanical properties of materials, development of new materials for information storage, mathematical and physical modeling of materials-processing operations such as solidification and steel making, plasma processing of materials, solar cells, corrosion, oxidation, electrodeposition, resource reclamation, foundry methods, and metal casting.

The Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering operates laboratories for solidification processing, chemical metallurgy, mechanical processing, heat treating, specimen preparation, light and electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, corrosion, and electrochemistry. Specialized facilities also exist for rapid solidification, container-less melting, chemical-vapor deposition, sputtering of thin films, thermo gravimetric analysis, and an atomizer to manufacture metal powders for 3D printing of metal parts.

In addition, the University has a foundry, which provides space and facilities for teaching, research and service to metal-casting and processing industries. The laboratory incorporates basic types of equipment used in operating foundries and permits demonstration to students of most of the practices encountered in making cast iron, steel and nonferrous alloys.