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Melting and plastic deformation of metallic alloys

New metallic materials or composites are studied and developed.
A unique combination of melting furnaces and metal working facilities (rolling, forging, drawing) allows laboratory-sized or small-sized production for subsequent testing or use in special application.
Numerous materials have been produced and characterised, among which titanium alloys, copper based foams, aluminium based composites, shape memory alloys, refractory alloys, precious metals, and biodegradable metals.

The activities are performed in the Melting Lab and in the Plastic deformation & Heat treatment Labs.
The former is provided with induction melting machines (VIM - Vacuum Induction Melting) operating on different ingot size, electric arc furnace (VAR - Vacuum Arc Remelting) and also a Plasma Arc Melting (PAM) system. Ingots are produced with weight ranging from few grams to 1-10kg, depending on ally density. Not only bulk ingots were produced, but also porous materials, by using liquid metals infiltration techniques.

The equipment of Plastic deformation Lab & Heat treatment Labs allows hot and cold working of metals and alloys on medium sized scale. Samples with different thermo-mechanical history, as well as different shapes (sheets, rods, wires) and sizes can be prepared. Useful processing information are also derived, as main research purpose or as complementary information.

More recently alternative deformation techniques were introduced, such as:

  • Severe plastic deformation methods ( ECAP – Equal Channel Angular Pressing)
  • Mechanical activation/mechanical alloying through a planetary milling machine
  • Open Die Pressing for powder sintering.
  • Overview of plastic deformation facilities
  • Overview of melting furnace, with produced ingot examples. Clockwise order: PAM, VAR, VIM
  • Induction melting furnace (VIM): vacuum chamber with graphite crucible and water cooled copper mold



Semifinished products: wires and sheets.
Mechanical activation: planetary milling machine and a electron microscope image of milled powder cross section. The powder was obtained from tow powders, each of different element, mixed and subsequently milled. Intimate mixing is obtained
Metallic foam obtained with liquid metal infiltration technique
Equal Channel Angular Pressing device, opened for demonstration purpose. Operating punch and sample under deformation are visible

Overview of the synthesis equipment, plastic deformation and thermal treatment
  • KEYWORDS:
    melting plastic deformation mechanical activation thermal treatment thermo-mechanical processing
  • RECENT PUBLICATIONS:
    • A. Tuissi, G. Rondelli, P. Bassani
      Plasma arc melting (PAM) and Corrosion resistance of pure NiTi shape memory alloys
      Shape memory and Superelasticity, Volume 1 Number 1 (2015)1:50-57 DOI 10.1007/s40830-015-0011-6
    • S.A.M. Tofail, J. Butler, A.A. Gandhi, J.M. Carlson, S. Lavelle, S. Carr, P. Tiernan, G. Warren, K. Kennedy, C.A. Biffi, P. Bassani, A. Tuissi
      X-ray visibility and metallurgical features of NiTi shape memory alloy with erbium
      Materials Letters, 137(2014) 450-454
    • Riccardo Casati, Maurizio Vedani, David Dellasega, Paola Bassani, Ausonio Tuissi
      Consolidated Al/Al2O3 Nano-composites by Equal Channel Angular Pressing and Hot Extrusion
      Materials and Manufacturing Processes, DOI: 10.1080/10426914.2014.912305
    • C.A. Biffi, M. Coduri, H. Yoshida, Y. Soejima, M. Nishida, A. Tuissi
      The Effect of Thermal Cycling on the Martensitic Transformation in Equiatomic CuZr
      Journal of Alloys and Compounds. Doi:10.1016./j.jalcom.2015.09.022
    • C.A. Biffi, A. Figini, A. Tuissi
      Influence of Compositional Ratio on Microstructure and Martensitic Transformation of CuZr Shape Memory Alloys
      Intermetallics 46C (2014), pp. 4-11 DOI information: 10.1016/j.intermet.2013.10.018