Next ACRC Meeting:  December 11-12, 2025 UCI Irvine, CA

Welcome to the Advanced Casting Research Center (ACRC)

ACRC is one of the largest industry-university consortia (~ 40 members) in North America dedicated to collaborative research in metal processing and manufacturing. Our focus is metal casting and digital manufacturing. We bring fundamental understanding to existing processes, develop new methods, new alloys, and address management-technology interface issues with our industrial partners. ACRC serves the global metal processing and foundry industry as its educational and research home.

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PRATT & WHITNEY LAUNCHES UCI CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

We are delighted to report that Pratt & Whitney has established a Center of Excellence for Solidification Science at UCI. Diran Apelian will be its inaugural Director, and the team of Carl Soderhjelm, Dan Mumm, Julián Rimoli (of Mechanical engineering) and Lorenzo Valdevit will be the core faculty working on these projects. The Center of Excellence will be a hub with ties to OSU, North Carolina State and North Carolina A&T.

ACRC RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Ultrasonic Processing of Aluminum Alloys

Ultrasonic Treatment (UST) is a novel molten metal processing method that has the potential to perform degassing, grain refinement, and modify intermetallics all in one eco-friendly step. To achieve this goal, the fundamental mechanisms of UST must be researched and developed. The ACRC project on UST is investigating the underlying principles of an innovative multifrequency ultrasonic impartment method and establishing the limiting factors of this processing method in the liquid-state of the metal. Liquid-state UST is a prominent route of exploration to further develop this processing method for many industrial purposes including permanent, gravity casting, sandcasting, launder systems, and high-pressure diecasting. The currently observed benefits of multifrequency UST include the temperatures at which treatment is effective (over 100°C superheat), the volume of metal that can be treated (up to 20 kg compared to 1 kg in traditional fixed frequency), the ability to modify script-like intermetallics into faceted phases, and significant grain refinement (up to 85% reduction in grain size).

HPDC Aluminum Alloy Development for High Conductivity Applications

Al-Si cast alloys account for 80~90% of the world’s castings and HPDC specifically accounts for more than ~60% of this subset due to cost competitiveness for mass production. However, the thermal and electrical conductivity properties of Al-Si alloys are only ~50% of pure Al in the as-cast condition, which can only be increased to ~70% with resource-consuming heat treatments. Improving conductivity properties with decent strength can lead to higher performance and/or lifespan for applications such as electric vehicle powertrains, electric motor rotors, internal combustion engines, heat exchangers, etc. Alternative Al eutectic systems such as the Al-Fe, Al-Fe-Ni, Al-Ni, and Al-Ce systems offer pathways to achieve ↑ conductivity & ↑ strength for castable Al alloys. Current research focuses on establishing the significance of intertwined, hierarchical microstructural parameters that govern conductivity, strength, and castability, to provide a foundation for alloy development strategies.

To learn more about the incredible research we are doing at ACRC, click here.

MANUFACTURING SCIENCE SUMMER SCHOOL

Held at the University of California, Irvine Campus (UCI)

July 7 – August 16, 2025

Organized by Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Materials Science and Engineering faculty of UCI

The Physical Sciences Directorate (ALPDS) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the Materials Science & Engineering Department at the University of California Irvine (UCI) have partnered to provide junior/senior undergraduates and/or first/second year graduate students an opportunity for classroom instruction and project-based research experiences focused on manufacturing science. The summer school will be held on the campus of UCI with a total of 12 students and 3 projects (4 students per project) that will run for 6 weeks. This is highly competitive and the 12 students will be selected based on their transcript and cover letter. The selected students will receive a $5,000 stipend, room and board expenses will be covered, and travel funds to attend the summer school (max of $800) will be available. Selected students will have the opportunity to work on three projects: (i) Solidification Science (weeks 1 and 2); (ii) Spray Technologies (weeks 3 and 4); and (iii) Additive Manufacturing of Topologically Optimized Materials and Structures (weeks 5 and 6). Students will also report out on their projects to stakeholders and technology champions at a poster session at the end of course.

Interested students should send in their letter of interest (cover letter) and an official transcript and resume to:
Ms. Viviana Saadalla
viviana.saadalla@uci.edu
By March 21, 2025

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

  • Shrivatsav Shankar, Carl Söderhjelm, Diran Apelian, “Classification of Automotive Aluminum Scrap into Cast and Wrought Alloys via Particle Size Analysis” – Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy.
  • Kentaro F. Lun, Diran Apelian, “Thermal and Electrical Conductivity of Aluminum Alloys: fundamentals, structure-property relationships, and pathways to enhance conductivity” – Materials Science & Engineering.
  • Calvin H. Belcher, Daisy Kamp, Sydney To, Yemao Lu, Delphine Chassaing, Torben Boll, Benjamin E. MacDonald, Elizabeth M. Y. Lee, Diran Apelian, Enrique J. Lavernia, “The Origin and Control of Interstitial Impurities in Refractory Complex Concentrated Alloys” – Journal of Alloys and Compounds.
  • Shrivatsav Shankar, Nicholas Gois, Emily Molstad, Carl Söderhjelm, Diran Apelian, “Upcycling of Low Quality Aluminum Automotive Scrap: The DNA of Twitch” – International Journal of Metalcasting.
  • Mahsa Amiri, Kliah N. Soto Leytan, Diran Apelian, Daniel R. Mumm, Lorenzo Valdevit, “Influence of Particle Size Distribution on Microstructural and Mechanical Features of Cold Sprayed Refractory Metals” – Journal of DoD Research and Engineering.
  • Nagasivamuni Balasubramani, Michael Moodispaw, Alan A. Luo,  “Controlling the Fe-intermetallic Phases and Mechanical Properties of Secondary Al-9Si-1Fe Alloy with Cr and Mn Additions” – Journal of Materials Science & Technology.
  • Michael Moodispaw, Jiashi Miao, Emre Cinkilic, Alan A. Luo, “The Beneficial Effect of Ce Additions to High Fe-containing Secondary Al-Si-Mg Cast Alloys” – Journal of Alloys and Compounds.
  • Nicole Trometer, Buwei Chen, Michael Moodispaw, Wayne Cai, Teresa Rinker, Shardul Kamat, Zachary Velasco, Alan A. Luo, “Modeling and Validation of Hydrogen Porosity Formation in Aluminum Laser Welding” – Journal of Manufacturing Processes.
  • Michael P. Moodispaw, Emre Cinkilic, Jiashi Miao, Alan A. Luo, “The Beneficial Effect of Iron in Aluminum-cerium-based Cast Alloys” – Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A.

ACRC Board Chair 2024-2025

Jason Sebastian, QuesTek Innovations LLC

“The ACRC is one of the most longstanding and successful industry/university research partnerships in the world, and it brings together researchers and industry in exciting and productive ways. Funding is leveraged to provide members precompetitive access to cutting-edge research & development project results, and access to advanced experimental facilities at UC-Irvine and OSU. Members can select and steer the R&D projects through their active participation in project steering committees and at the ACRC semi-annual in-person meetings. The consortium provides incomparable networking opportunities with top-notch university researchers at UC-Irvine and OSU, and with decision-making executives and managers at high-tech, materials-centric industry member companies. As ACRC Board Chairman, I look forward to helping the ACRC to continue and expand upon its successes in the years to come.”