Mechatronic and product innovation engineering

Mechatronic and product innovation engineering

Host Department
Department of Management and Engineering

Research Topic A

Abstract of the proposed UNIPhD research project

Globally we are growing and developing at an uncontrolled speed and in the process our ecology is highly imbalanced and threatened. Energy demands are continuously rising, which ultimately results in increasing inequality in our socio-economic sectors. It is widely acknowledged that many societies collapsed due to their inability to adapt to the conditions brought by unsustainable practices. Therefore, at this critical juncture, innovative metallic alloys and improved shaping processes, coupled with lightweight design concepts can play a vital role towards rectification and to ensure sustainability mobility. Lightweight materials are considered prime choices for manufacturing vehicle bodies in the aviation, aerospace, shipbuilding, and railway transportation sectors. Such selections are aimed at achieving higher energy efficiency and reducing the CO2 emissions phenomenon. During the transition from fossil fuels to clean electricity generation; weight reduction of vehicles could produce greater cumulative emissions savings by 2050 than those obtained through the electrification alone. While taking into account the reliability of weight reduction and vehicle structure, it appears to be a valid approach to replace conventional heavyweight structures with lighter ones. That’s why the selection of materials with the expected, application-dependent characteristics constitutes a very important point in any industrial application. While underlying factors for dependence of the automobile sector, aluminum (Al) alloys are considered the most suitable choice for producing effective engineering solutions due to their low densities. These alloys have a high strength/weight ratio, good formability, an excellent combination of castability and mechanical properties which together with excellent corrosion resistance make them very appropriate for a large variety of applications. The aim of the proposed work will be to investigate the optimization of Al-based innovative metallic alloys and improved shaping processes, coupled with lightweight design concepts towards rectification and to ensure sustainability mobility. Moreover, to achieve technological innovations and continuous optimization of existing process flows that are essential to ensure resource savings and future competitiveness, especially in small and medium-sized businesses.

Short Bio

Osama Asghar did his MS in Materials Science & Engineering from Xian Jiaotong University, China. He graduated in Materials Science & Engineering from Institute of Space Technology, Pakistan. He served as Inspection Engineer at National Centre for Failure Analysis (NCFA), Pakistan where he has been intimately involved in various onsite nondestructive inspection and replica metallography in multiple oil & gas sectors. His key areas of research interest include surface engineering, alloy development, materials characterization, destructive & nondestructive testing, onsite replica metallography and root cause failure analysis.