IUCRC Phase I The Ohio State University: Center for Industrial Metal Forming (CIMF) - Lead Site

The mission of the Center for Industrial Metal Forming (CIMF), which is comprised of Ohio State University (OSU), Oakland University (OU), and University of New Hampshire (UNH), is to perform cutting-edge, pre-competitive fundamental research in metal forming science and engineering. Metal forming processes are widely used in automotive, aerospace, defense, electronics, appliances, and biomedical industries and play an essential role in generating significant economic impact and attaining global market competitiveness.

Transportation, defense, aerospace, household and biomedical industries consume and process large quantities of metals in forgings, extrusions, and sheet metal components. New and future demands in metal forming will require new material processing methods, innovative tool designs, new lubricants, automation, AI, integration with computing resources, and intelligent sensors to improve quality, minimize variability, and reduce the amount of scrap for lightweight and high strength materials.

Significant needs and challenges exist with respect to computational and materials modeling, developing innovative forming processes using state-of-the-art technologies, and creating equipment and die innovations to enhance the forming of metals. If addressed, these advancements would lead to considerable product performance, manufacturing, and societal benefits.

CIMF activities will strengthen the US manufacturing industry and facilitate rapid development of new metal forming technologies by conducting industrially-relevant and challenging projects that couple fundamental and applied research. CIMF will collaborate closely with its industrial Members to prepare work-ready professionals for the metal forming industry through academic programs and industrial training to improve the knowledge and skill base for these critical industries.

Advancement in material utilization and broader implementation of lightweighting alloys from CIMF research will help to protect the environment from CO2 emissions. Diversity with respect to underrepresented groups in CIMF research and educational efforts will be achieved through proven programs and outreach activities. OSU will focus on material suppliers and automotive industries, due to the concentration of companies in these areas in the Midwest U.S.

CIMF will drive innovation and competitiveness in U.S. industry by conducting transformational research in novel forming processes, Integrated Computational Metal Forming, advanced equipment and die technologies, the application of sensors and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in metal forming, and artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted materials modeling. This will necessitate an interdisciplinary approach with experts from manufacturing engineering, electrical engineering, materials science, computational methods, AI and data analytics, and experimental mechanics.

The industrial Members of CIMF include original equipment manufacturers, components suppliers, material suppliers, and machine builders. Vertical, fundamental advances will be achieved by employing innovative approaches in sheet metal/tube forming, forging, and extrusion, improving material formability, advancing methods for virtual process design and simulation, and employing new lubricants and metal forming equipment.

Specifically, projects target process innovation, forming control based on IIoT, energy-efficient forming machines, etc. The results will be advancements in material utilization and weight reduction, final part performance, industry-friendly computational tools for process design, metal forming dies with extended life, and industrial metal forming processes of increased productivity, across a range of advanced material systems.

OSU has unique facilities and research expertise with respect to process innovation and modeling, materials development and testing, constitutive modeling, and data analytics.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.