Description:

The Manufacturing Technology Group (MTG) is a group of researchers working at the Department of Industrial and Digital Innovation of the University of Palermo. MTG carries out research and teaching activities and looks back to more than 20 years of research in manufacturing science and continuous participation to the most important international scientific events. The group mission is the design, engineering and optimization of innovative production processes. In particular, through the integration of numerical methods and experimental activities new scientific methods can be developed for different areas of manufacturing. Recently, the research activity has been focused on the following topics. 

Current research topics:

• Joining techniques: solid state and deformation-based processes (Friction Stir Welding and Linear Friction Welding).
• Innovative joining processes able to join difficult to weld or unweldable materials (even dissimilar joints) with extremely high mechanical performances and low residual stress.
• Light alloys recycling techniques (solid state): Friction Stir Extrusion and consolidation.
• Innovative direct recycling process designed to produce high quality wires or small billets from metallic scrap of light alloys (aluminum, Magnesium and Titanium) in a one-step operation.
• Incremental forming processes.
• Extremely flexible dieless sheet forming process for the production of small batches or “one of a kind” components with reduces costs with respect to traditional sheet stamping.
• Life Cycle Engineering (LCE) for analysis and minimization of environmental impact of production processes.
• Hot Forging.
• Numerical simulation of production processes.

Main research projects:

• MatProFuture - New Material Processing Technologies for Sustainable Future”,Programma Europeo: FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IRSES https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/105346/factsheet/en
• Titaform - Precision Hot Forming, development of innovative hot-forming processes of aeronautical components in Ti-alloy with low buy/fly ratio” P.O.N. RICERCA E COMPETITIVITA’ http://www.ponrec.it/open-data/progetti/scheda-progetto?ProgettoID=5021
• COMPETE - on the ChOice of Manufacturing Processes for Effective Titanium componEnts – Progetto di ricercar di interesse nazionale PRIN 2017

Keywords: Production processes, process optimization, innovative materials