The department of Metallurgy
and Materials has a mission to:
- Deliver knowledge to prospective
engineers
- Carry out research and development
- Collaborate with
industry
Delivery of Knowledge in the field of Materials: DMME offers an undergraduate B.
Eng course accredited by
the
Institute of Metals, Mining and Minerals (IoMMM) in the UK and leading
to C.Eng. The course is run jointly with other
departments within the faculty. The department also
offers post
graduate study units in the Masters course offered by the Faculty,
Integrated Product Development.
Students graduating from the Faculty of Engineering are proof of the quality and level of teaching
offered. Undergraduate
students are employed immediately after graduation
and are
eagerly sought after by companies and research
institutions overseas. Students opting to further
their studies
overseas often performed outstandingly well.
The department assists
a number of students by means of the Socrates
exchange agreements it has with foreign universities,
as
well its deep-rooted
international connections to find placements
for students wishing to gain an experience by
studying
overseas.
Research and Development work in the field of
Materials and particularly Heat Treatment and
Surface Engineering: The
department of Metallurgy and Materials has
state of the art research facilities in the fast growing
field of surface
engineering. Members within the department
carry
out research in Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI),
Ion Beam Assisted Deposition
(IBAD), Surface modification of Magnesium
alloys and laser transformation hardening and
deposition
techniques.
 |
 |
| Austempered
Ductile Iron (ADI) |
Laser
remelted ADI – effect of excessive heat
input. |
 |
 |
| Ledeburite structure
of laser remelted ADI surface |
Close-up of regions
with a mixed microstructure of martensite and
ledeburite. |
The department carries
out commissioned research work for a number of companies,
such as the Austrian Swarovski Ltd. Involvement in
international research projects includes participation
in the sixth framework programme (FP6) such as PROMET;
and the Leonardo da Vinci projects INNOVATE, LASTED and TREE and others. The department also coordinates
a COST research project titled: Tribological and
Mechanical characteristics of shot-peened and surface
coated /
modified Austempered Ductile Iron gears which has as partners the Faculty of Engineering
at Dublin’s
Institute of Technology and the Faculty of Mechanical
Engineering and Naval Architecture at the University
of Zagreb.
Collaboration with Industry: From
the onset of its establishment the department has acknowledged
this
role and Surface Engineering
Co. Ltd., a limited liability
company with foreign share holding, was set up to offer to the
local industry heat treatment and surface engineering
services intended to prolong the life of tools, reduce
machine down time, and improve quality of the finished
product. Surface Engineering Ltd. serves as the commercial
arm of the DMME.
Services offered by SE Ltd.
include:
- A range of vacuum
heat treatment processes including annealing, hardening,
tempering, homogenising and normalising.
- Plasma
and Gas Nitriding
- Physical Vapour Deposition (TiN,
CrN coatings)
- Ion Implantation
- Ion Beam Assisted Deposition
- Material testing
including:
- Tensile, compression and bending
- Creep
- Fatigue
- Accelerated corrosion
- Metallographic characterization
- Analytical investigation
- Hardness on macro-
and micro-scales
- Tribological investigations
The department offers
services to companies from different
sectors of the industry
including construction,
metal removal, metal forming, aviation, microelectronics
and others. SE
Ltd. has been accepted as an approved
supplier for
Lufthansa Technic Malta, an achievement, in
view of the
stringent quality requirements
of the aviation industry. |
