Wojciech Misiolek, the Loewy Chair for Lehigh University’s Materials Science and Engineering Department, in the area of Materials Forming and Processing, is involved in a research supported by the German Research Foundation to develop new methods of processing metals through which metals can be shaped into products for the automobile industry.
Wojciech Misiolek, the Loewy Chair in Materials Forming and Processing, gives the keynote address at the 10th International Conference on the Technology of Plasticity in Aachen, Germany. Misiolek is the Mercator Visiting Professor this semester at the Technical University of Dortmund in Germany.
The professor is the Mercator Visiting Professor for the Institute for Metal Forming and Light Construction, which is part of the Technical University of Dortmund in Germany.
According to the professor two approaches could result in processing metals as final products. One approach focuses on the commercial software used by engineers that determines the material flow process and its final outcome based on parameters such as temperature, distribution and strain. However, commercial software cannot accurately predict the final outcome of metal processing.
The other approach focuses on processing magnesium and the alloys of magnesium which is currently being considered by automobile manufacturers as a replacement to aluminium since magnesium is lighter than aluminium and its use could make automobiles lighter and more energy efficient. Magnesium alloys however can take any shape and form without altering its strength. This quality could be vital to automobile manufacturers as the various parts of a car require the material to be shaped in different forms with the right level of tolerance in geometry.