TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – Dr. Laurentiu Nastac, associate professor of metallurgical and materials engineering at The University of Alabama, organized a symposium and was the main editor of a book of papers that honor retired UA professor Dr. Doru M. Stefanescu.
The symposium, “Advances in the Science and Engineering of Casting Solidification,” was held in Orlando, Florida, during March as part of the annual meeting for members of The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, or TMS. The symposium had 85 scheduled presentations with 21 invited, and the book collected the 47 submitted papers.
Stefanescu’s scientific career spans more than four decades. He is the Cudworth Professor of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Emeritus, and former director of the Solidification Laboratory, retired in 2005 after serving the UA College of Engineering for 25 years. He continued his scholarly activity as Ashland Designated Research Professor at The Ohio State University until 2010.
“The topics included in this volume were selected to reflect the broad research interests of Professor Stefanescu,” Nastac said. “The participants in this symposium are leading scientists in the field of casting and solidification from around the world. A significant number of the participants were also either his students or colleagues.”
This book encompasses the following four areas:
- Solidification processing: theoretical and experimental investigations of solidification processes including castings solidification, directional solidification of alloys, electromagnetic stirring, ultrasonic cavitation, mechanical vibration, active cooling and heating, powder bed-electron beam melting additive manufacturing, etc. for processing of metals, polymers and composite materials.
- Microstructure Evolution: theoretical and experimental studies related to microstructure evolution of materials including prediction of solidification-related defects and particle pushing/engulfment aspects.
- Novel Casting and Molding Processes: modeling and experimental aspects including high pressure die casting, permanent casting, centrifugal casting, low pressure casting, 3D silica sand mold printing, etc.
- Cast Iron: all aspects related to cast iron characterization, computational and analytical modeling, and processing.
“This book advances the state-of-the art science and engineering of casting solidification and microstructure evolution of materials,” Nastac said. “Also, it introduces to the audience advanced characterization and multi-scale modeling and simulation techniques as well as related novel processing methods.”
At least 10 selected papers from the proceedings will be published, after peer review, in a special issue of International Journal of Metal Casting Research.