The Advanced Casting Research Center (ACRC) located at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) announced its first affiliated branch at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. This affiliation will provide members and industry with expanded research capabilities, facilities and resources, and geographic impact in metal casting and digital manufacturing. Some of ACRC’s current research projects include work in data management, thermal management and machine learning. This affiliation with Ohio State will not only provide the alliance with a Midwestern footprint, it will allow the consortium to bring in enterprises from the manufacturing basin of the nation. This expansion will cement ACRC’s mission of being the premier metal-processing industry-university alliance serving corporate members and educating future industry leaders.

There are 19 such centers across the nation. Each of them addresses research of a scope and complexity requiring the scale, synergy and research talent provided by a campus-based research center. The MRSECs essentially support the materials research infrastructure in the United States; promote collaboration between universities, industry and international organizations; and contribute to the development of a national network of university-based centers in materials research, education and facilities.

The Advanced Casting Research Center (ACRC) at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) is currently working on several digital-manufacturing projects. In this piece, we feature two material manufacturing research projects with far-reaching impact.

We are pleased to contribute editorial for this quarterly column. Over the coming year, we will share the advancements we are making at the Advanced Casting Research Center on innovative processing methods for cast components; measurement of heat-transfer coefficient and other critical process parameters; big-data research; and advanced-alloy development initiatives.