Laboratory Profile
The UW-Milwaukee Foundry and Solidification Laboratory is a small-scale foundry that provides students with hands-on training in foundry processing techniques and foundry research.
The main objectives of the Foundry and Solidification Laboratory are to:
- Train students at the bachelor, master’s, and Ph.D. levels to help them obtain employment in a foundry-related field
- Conduct cutting-edge research in foundry technology to provide new materials and processes for foundry industries to remain competitive
- Train students through research activities that prepare them to be leaders in the foundry industry
- Be a source of well-trained engineers for foundry-related industries, especially those in Wisconsin
Milwaukee has one of the largest concentrations of foundry industries in the country. The foundry education program at UW-Milwaukee has been accredited by the Foundry Education Foundation (FEF), which acts as a liaison between the foundry industry and the university, and provides support to the program, students, and the laboratory.
Foundry and Solidification Processing Research Activities:
- Solidification modeling and pouring, feeding, heat and fluid flow; predicting solidification sequence and structure-properties
- Developing new solidification processes and novel casting techniques
- Developing metal matrix microparticle and nanoparticle composites
- Developing metal matrix-carbon nanoparticle and nanotube composites
- Characterizing and measuring physical and mechanical properties
- Computer-aided design and manufacturing
- Post-casting treatments
- Statistical quality and process control, statistical design of experimentation, and reliability in foundries
- Environmental control, recycling waste sand from foundries
- Austempered ductile iron, steel castings
- Aluminum alloy castings
- Grain refinement, modification, slag, and inclusion control
- Surface analysis and surface coatings
- Failure analysis
- Structural analysis
- Phase diagrams and alloy development
- Interaction between electromagnetic wave and solid or liquid metals
For more information please contact:
Pradeep Rohatgi Ph.D.
Wisconsin Distinguished Professor
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
College of Engineering & Applied Science
P.O. Box 784
Milwaukee, WI 53201
Phone: 414-229-4987
Email: prohatgi@uwm.edu