About Ma²JIC

Background

Industry faces the dual challenge of introducing new materials into products of the future and assuring that current materials meet performance requirements. Both of these challenges require a better fundamental knowledge of materials joining and additive manufacturing. This requires a multidisciplinary approach that occurs at the intersection of the joining and manufacturing processes and the materials' reaction to its environment. Aspects of manufacturing and joining processes, materials science, and structural design must be considered in this multi-disciplinary approach.

Ma²JIC continues to have a significant impact on innovation, competitiveness, and the sustainability of fabrication, welding, and additive manufacturing. Industry members of Ma²JIC have seen increased productivity, reduced overall costs, and higher quality components and structures.

Mission

"To establish a collaborative research environment between universities and industrial partners which promotes the development and application of fundamental knowledge in the areas of materials joining and additive manufacturing and provides a platform for the education of the next generation of scientist and engineers."

Thrust Areas

Materials Focus: Successful adoption of conventional and advanced materials requires the ability to successfully fabricate and join them.  A range of cracking and failure modes can occur when joining materials due to fundamental knowledge gaps on its weldability.  Ma²JIC research teams examine the material weldability to determine effective methods and approaches to successfully join these materials and quantitatively asses its weldability.

Processes Focus: Continuous process innovation is vital to achieving high productivity, quality, and improved performance, while supporting our advanced manufacturing and global competitiveness.  As industry needs, materials and applications evolve; new and improved manufacturing and joining technologies are required to meet new challenges.  Ma²JIC considers a full-lifecycle approach when developing and implementing process innovations.

Performance Focus: A clear understanding of material processing - microstructure - properties - performance relationship is essential for the development and use of advanced materials.  Expertise and experience within Ma²JIC is applied to clearly understand the relationships above and successfully implement solutions so that increasingly demanding design requirements can consistently be met.

Modeling Focus: Process, microstructural, and structural modeling specific to joining and additive manufacturing is evolving and models can now be applied to a broad range of industrial applications. The use of modeling and/or simulation is emphasized in the majority of Ma²JIC projects.  Members have experienced the benefits of modeling and simulation as they increase process and materials understanding, expedite development, improve performance, and extend the lifetime of products.