Materials Data and Computational Modeling for Industry 4.0

Talk #1: The Importance of Materials Governance

Abstract – Effective materials selection is crucial for successful engineering projects. Disjointed data from multiple sources can lead to delays and errors. Materials Governance addresses these challenges, and the first step is to create a single source of truth for material properties and their origins, ensuring engineers are only utilizing approved materials information, eliminating the need for extensive manual verification, and reducing decision-making delays. It accelerates the approval of new materials from weeks to minutes, which is crucial as projects advance toward manufacturing and require rapid updates. This short talk will explore the common materials challenges companies face and offer practical solutions for adopting effective materials governance to create a streamlined and reliable materials ecosystem.

Speaker – Natalija Scepanovic (Total Materia)

Bio – Natalija Scepanovic graduated from the University of Toronto in 2020 with a degree in Chemical Engineering. With the help of her technical degree, she can understand the importance of having access to reliable material information not just from a commercial perspective but from an engineering standpoint as well. Natalija was appointed as Total Materia’s North American Territory Manager at the beginning of 2024.

Talk #2: Closing the Material Property Data Gaps with CALPHAD Tools

Abstract: Metallurgists, process engineers and researchers all depend on good materials data throughout the materials lifecycle to make informed decisions each day. However, material properties and their behavior are strongly dependent on the chemical composition of the material and variations in processing conditions. Common sources of data, such as handbooks and data repositories, typically exist only for the most common materials and do not capture these variations. This short talk will introduce the CALPHAD method and discuss how it can be used to calculate and capture the chemistry and temperature dependence of material properties, improve finite element modeling, and help understand the process variations influence on properties like yield strength.

Speaker – Paul Mason (ThermoCalc)

Bio – Paul Mason graduated in 1989 from South Bank University in London with an Honors degree in Physical Sciences and Scientific Computing. Upon graduation, he joined the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell and worked in the area of civil nuclear power for 14 years focusing on materials R&D issues, particularly at high temperatures.  Paul began his career mostly involved in experimental work and then moved into the modeling realm. In 2004, Paul was appointed president of Thermo-Calc Software Inc. when the Swedish based Thermo-Calc Software AB started a U.S. subsidiary. Since this time, Paul has been responsible for marketing and sales, technical support, training, and customer relations for the North American market. 

Talk #3:  An overview of process and material modeling capabilities

Abstract:  DEFORM™ is a finite element-based process and material modeling system that is widely used in the industry for the design and development of variety of thermo-mechanical processes (TMP) such as forging, heat treatment, machining and joining processes.  Using the integrated manufacturing process modeling capabilities of DEFORM, it is possible to track the evolution of key state variables such as strain, temperature, residual stresses as well as microstructural evolution at any stage of the thermo-mechanical processing.   The variabilities associated with TMP processing can be analyzed for its impact on the evolution of process response such as residual stresses and microstructure. Few case studies that highlight wide ranging process and material modeling applications will be presented.

Speaker: Ravi Shankar (SFTC)

Bio:  Ravi Shankar received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from India, Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a M.B.A from Marquette University, Milwaukee.  He worked at Ladish Company from 16 years at various capacities in engineering and management.  He joined Scientific Forming Technologies Corporation as Director of Projects and Development, and he has worked extensively in product and business development and managing projects.  Ravi has more than 30 years of experience in finite element methods, process and material modeling,  optimization techniques and uncertainty quantification.