A Joint Workshop on Sustainability in Materials and Manufacturing

On December 7-9, a joint workshop took place on the Otaniemi campus with colleagues from the Advanced Manufacturing and Materials group in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Aalto University and those from the Chair of Metal Forming and Casting (utg) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

The workshop set a theme on sustainability in materials and manufacturing to provide a forum for idea exchange in research and education between the two universities as well as to identify topics for close collaboration between the two research groups. In total, it gathered about 25 researchers from both universities and colleagues from the University of Oulu and the leading company in additive manufacturing, EOS.  

The workshop covered five important fields, including

• New Experimental, Modeling, and Data-driven Methods for Materials
• Characterization and Modeling in Manufacturing Processes
• Digitalization in Materials and Processes for Future Material Design
• Additive Manufacturing, and
• Metallic Materials for Hydrogen Applications.

In total 15 high-quality presentations from both Aalto and TUM were presented and discussed during the workshop. Very complimentary competencies in the common field of materials and manufacturing were identified by both sides. Several specific topics on multiscale characterizing, testing, and modeling during multi-step forming of metallic materials as well as in hydrogen-related applications were listed for the initiation of collaboration between the two research groups.  

In addition to the presentations on these thematic topics organized in the iconic building, Dipoli, a series of visits to the top-class labs on the campus was also arranged. They included the materials characterization and testing lab in the Advanced Manufacturing and Materials group, the Design Factory, the national infrastructure for micro-, nano-, and quantum technologies (OtaNano), the Aalto University Digital Design Laboratory (ADDLAB), and the Aalto Ice and Wave Tank. Cross-sectional and multidisciplinary research and educational topics were exchanged and discussed during these visits to expand the fields of collaboration.  

The organizers of the workshop, Assistant Professor Junhe Lian at Aalto University and Professor Wolfram Volk and Dr Christoph Hartmann at TUM would like to acknowledge the funding provided by the Aalto Internal Funding Program and the TUM Global Incentive Fund Initiative, which provided excellent opportunities for the two research groups to conduct exchanges and collaborative research together.

A series of actions are being placed for follow-up joint investigations and initiatives for research and educational collaborations. Participants from both universities and industry provided very positive feedback and expressed strong wishes and interest in regular joint workshops. A common vision has been established by the organizers to host the workshop as an annual or biannual activity for a continuous and sustainable exchange and collaboration between the two universities.

Text: Assistant Professor Junhe Lian, Aalto University