Maintworld Magazine 2/2022
- maintenance & asset management
- maintenance & asset management
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MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY<br />
SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW SUVI SANTA-AHO, TAMPERE UNIVERSITY, ENGINEERING MATERIALS SCIENCE,<br />
MATERIALS CHARACTERISATION RESEARCH GROUP<br />
To Repair or<br />
to Redesign?<br />
The importance of materials technology usually only becomes clear<br />
when something goes wrong, such as if a component fails during a<br />
production process or breaks under wear. The number one question<br />
should be “how do we prevent this from happening again”.<br />
The significance of materials technology<br />
and non-destructive testing<br />
is bound to grow in the future, as<br />
digitalisation and sustainable development<br />
start to place new requirements<br />
on products and components.<br />
Materials technology parameters are chosen<br />
based on standards, which means that the real potential<br />
of using materials technology to optimise<br />
the properties of materials according to their intended<br />
use is lost.<br />
The current craze is innovation ecosystems,<br />
which offer one way to bring experts in different<br />
technological disciplines together with<br />
businesses to brainstorm new approaches. The<br />
role of materials technology and non-destructive<br />
testing in production chains is the subject<br />
of a project called “Smart Manufacturing in an<br />
Ecosystem”, which is a research collaboration<br />
between Tampere University and local mechanical<br />
engineering businesses and funded by<br />
Business Finland.<br />
The project promotes the development and<br />
reinforcement of a multidisciplinary mechanical<br />
engineering business ecosystem while also producing<br />
data that can potentially be used more<br />
widely going forward. The businesses involved<br />
in the project include Sandvik and several other<br />
businesses. The ecosystem engages in multidisciplinary<br />
cooperation with various units of<br />
Tampere University (Engineering Materials<br />
Science, Automation Technology and Mechanical<br />
Engineering) and internationally with<br />
RWTH Aachen University. The ecosystem believes<br />
in the power of working together: none of<br />
the organisations can control everything alone,<br />
but by pooling their resources they can make<br />
significant contributions.<br />
32 maintworld 2/<strong>2022</strong>
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