The Manufacturing and Materials Joining Innovation Center (Ma2JIC) - formerly Center for Integrative Materials Joining Science for Energy Applications (CIMJSEA) at Ohio State University and in conjunction with its partner universities has established programs to advance the science and technology of materials joining as it applies to advanced manufacturing. The mission of the center is to 1) close the gap between material development and weldability, 2) develop scientifically-based methodologies for assessing material weldability/joinability that span nm to mm length scales, and 3) develop a new generation of materials joining engineers and scientists. Materials joining is a critical enabling technology essential to maintaining US leadership in manufacturing. This technology impacts virtually every segment of US industry. The center seeks to identify projects that are critical to these industries and provide students with the scientific and engineering skills that will allow them to contribute to society. Projects include aspects of welding processes, materials science, design, and fitness-for-service. There is a strong focus on the development of computational tools that facilitate the joining of conventional and advanced materials. The center conducts a number of projects that are organized into five technology thrust areas, namely 1) Material Performance, 2) Weldability Testing and Evaluation, 3) Modeling, 4) Process Development and Innovation, and 5) Additive Manufacturing. Projects within the Materials Performance thrust area involve weldability issues associated with conventional and advanced materials, with particular emphasis on improving service performance, extending the lifetime of critical components, and reducing manufacturing costs. The Weldability Testing and Evaluation thrust area seeks to develop testing methods to validate new materials and processes and provide input to material producers that allows the development of "weldable" materials. The Modeling thrust area is developing integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) techniques that predict the performance of welded structures by rigorously considering the complex interactions between materials and processes. The Process Development and Innovation thrust area evaluates existing welding processes and seeks to identify new welding processes that represent improvements over conventional processes. Finally, the Additive Manufacturing thrust area consists of projects that seek to develop a better fundamental understanding of metal deposition processes and to identify applications of this technology. The results of these projects influence both current application of existing materials and potential use of advanced materials in a wide range of industrial applications.
