By: Steve Levesque

Buffalo Manufacturing Works concluded our first series of Technical Working Groups with a session on emerging technologies in materials processing, characterization and testing with a group of attendees from members of our Founders Council, manufacturers and partners at the University at Buffalo, NYS Center of Excellence Materials Informatics and Insyte Consulting.

We believe that new applications for advanced ceramics, polymers and composites can evolve manufacturing so we set the stage with a few minutes spent on what “material science” meant to the group – with answers ranging from liquids, solids, advanced materials, replacement for traditional tooling, thermal processing and more!

Our materials & testing practice at Buffalo Manufacturing Works is centered on applications, testing, synthesis, and modeling expertise focused in the areas of non-metallic and composite materials so we surveyed various potential capabilities including:

• Precision Measurement
• Surface Characterization
• Microscopy/SEM
• Computed Tomography (CT)

The conversation then turned to materials synthesis and processing with coatings generating significant buzz as a potential focus area in our materials & testing technology roadmap.

Attendees discussed manufacturing solutions for coatings (plasma, thermal spray, cold spray and chemical vapor deposition ), surface treatments (etching, phase-change materials and surfacing), coatings for tooling (punches, dies, machining tooling), coatings for corrosion (coatings for aluminum used in carbine fiber applications), adhesives research (pressure coatings), coatings for color changes to indicate changes and anti-microbial coatings for medical devices. And that was all in under an hour!

What else is sparking interest from manufacturers?

• Powder development for additive manufacturing
• Product testing (strength, vibration and environmental)

Here is a link to the presentation we shared at the meeting.

Interested in learning more about our first round of Technical Working Groups? Check out takeaways from each session here:

Machining & Finishing
Additive Manufacturing
Flexible Manufacturing