Under the witness of the Bureau of Energy’s director Lin Chuan-Neng, Metal Industries Development& Research Centre (MIRDC) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Tohoku University’s Metal Institute on December 18, 2015, in Sendai, Japan. The MOU was signed by Director K. Takanashi of Tohoku University and President Ho-Chung Fu of MIRDC. This agreement focuses on the joint research of additive manufacturing and metal material technology. Both parties are also expected to cooperate in the future regarding the energy R&D field.
Tohoku University is ranked number one in the world in the metal material field. The Metal Material Institute has the longest history of the six institutes under Tohoku University, and is engaged in theoretical and application research of material science. Two scientists from the institute have won the Nobel Prize. This institute possesses advanced equipment and technical capabilities in the additive manufacturing, magnetic material, biocompatible material fields, for which it is internationally renowned.
MIRDC is equipped with technical capabilities in nitinol design, and has successfully developed additive manufacturing using nitinol powder by combining smelting technology with powder and electron beam additive manufacturing techniques. MIRDC has also established the nation’s first electron beam additive manufacturing laboratory to assist Taiwan medical device makers to gain a foothold in the customized high-end medical material market.
In the future, both parties will continue with cooperative research and development model, which can combine the additive manufacturing equipment, manufacturing process, and smelting technology into an innovative laboratory with shared R&D resources. Personnel from both parties will exchange and visit to each other’s research divisions to conduct research and analysis. Researchers from both parties are also engaged in the research and analysis of new topics, such as key energy related materials. The signing of this MOU is expected to significantly expand cooperation between Tohoku University and MIRDC.