The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Birmingham, Ala., has officially opened its new Materials Processing and Application Development Center (MPAD), a laboratory announced last spring that includes state-of-the-art metalcasting capabilities.
The ribbon on the facility officially was cut during a ceremony on Aug. 24.
“Companies that don’t want to spend extra dollars in this economic time on research and development can now look to UAB to conduct tests and develop new materials,” said Neal Wade, director of the Alabama Development Office. “This center is the real deal. They have an unparalleled level of intellect here and are operating state-of-the-art equipment to work in the most advanced areas of composite and metal materials research.”
Home to a 6,000-sq.-ft. composite materials laboratory and 9,000 sq.-ft. metals laboratory, MPAD, which operates out of the UAB Department of Materials Science and Engineering, is the largest academic research facility of its kind in the country.
“Having both composites and metals research under one roof is extremely rare,” said Linda Lucas, Ph.D., dean of the UAB School of Engineering. “We will be able to develop new materials and new processing technologies and methods for various applications all in one location.”
MPAD’s metals lab is still in its equipment installation phase but by late fall will begin to test new metals. The lab will be capable of pouring 500-lb. test castings, significantly larger than traditional test samples fashioned at most U.S. universities. The MPAD composites lab was established in 2004.
