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A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 6
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CANFSA: EXPLORING THE
PHYSICALMETALLURGYOF
NON-FERROUS ALLOYS
A unique collaboration brings together university and industry stakeholders
to conduct basic and applied physical metallurgy research on non-ferrous
structural alloys.
Peter Collins, Iowa State University, Ames
Amy Clarke,* Robert Field, FASM,* Stephen Midson,* and Michael Kaufman, FASM*
Colorado School of Mines, Golden
Members, students, faculty, and guests attending the fall 2015 CANFSA IABmeeting at the Colorado School of Mines.
*Member of ASM International
T
he Center for Advanced Non-Fer-
rous Structural Alloys (CANFSA)
is a National Science Foundation
industry/university cooperative research
center that focuses on the physical met-
allurgy of non-ferrous engineering alloys
and systems. It was created based on the
historical decline in physical metallurgy
research funding, which has resulted in a
dramatic decrease in the number of stu-
dents pursuing a career in this field. This
trend has greatly reduced the synergies
that previously existed between faculty,
students, and the non-ferrous indus-
tries, and has potentially weakened the
U.S. dominance of industries that rely on
these interactions.
Jointly located at the Colorado
School of Mines (CSM) and Iowa State
University (ISU), along with an affiliate
site at the University of North Texas
(UNT), CANFSA was established in 2011
and recently transitioned into its sec-
ond five-year phase. The center aims to:
•
Become the premier location for
research in non-ferrous structural
alloys
•
Bring together university and indus-
try researchers to conduct basic
and applied physical metallurgy
research on non-ferrous structural
alloys
•
Combine computational model-
ing, processing, and state-of-the-
art characterization methods to
address projects of interest to
industrial members
•
Train students to become critical
players in industries that develop or
use non-ferrous alloys
This article provides a brief over-
view of CANFSA, summarizes current re-
search efforts, and describes the types
of industry-university interactions with-
in CANFSA.