The Advanced Casting Research Center (ACRC) at the University of California, Irvine has established its first affiliated branch at The Ohio State University, to expand research capabilities, facilities, and resources, plus geographic reach, for research in metalcasting and digital manufacturing.
ACRC is the largest industry-university consortia in North America dedicated to collaborative research in metalcasting processes, on developing new methods and alloys, and also addresses “management-technology interface issues with clear industrial applications.”
Some of the current ACRC-funded projects include: “FEA Correlation of 3D Scanned Model of Cast Porosity”; “Green Alloys”; “Development of an Al Based Structural Alloy Not Requiring Post-Solidification Heat Treatment”; “Thermal Management During Solidification”; and “Assessment and Enhancement of Metalcasting Process via Machine Learning.”
The ACRC consortium includes nearly 40 corporate members, and the affiliation with Ohio State will provide the partnership with a Midwestern presence and allow it to draw in enterprises from the core manufacturing region of the U.S. Also, the statement announcing the affiliation stated it will “cement ACRC’s mission of being the premiere metal processing industry-university alliance serving corporate members and educating future industry leaders.”
ACRC founder Diran Apelian will continue to serve as its director at the headquarters on the UCI campus, along with Carl Söderhjelm, associate director of ACRC since 2019, who oversees several critical projects and is coordinating construction of a metalcasting facility at UCI.
Alan Luo will serve as site director of ACRC at OSU. Luo is a professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Integrated Systems Engineering at Ohio State, and the director of the Lightweight Materials and Manufacturing Research Laboratory there.
“This is a partnership that is based on trust, but more importantly on the vision of how collectively we can serve the metalcasting and manufacturing industry,” stated Diran Apelian. “Having an ACRC branch at Ohio State is a win-win for all involved, particularly for our consortium members and our students, who are the future.”