The Department of Materials Engineering (Dema), of the Center of Exact Sciences and Technology of the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), is recognized as a Center of Excellence through the Pronex Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT). This position was guaranteed through the expansion and rationalization of its laboratories, the purchase and installation of equipment with funds from FAPESP's Infrastructure Program, destined to the area of engineering. “They were financial resources that really wouldn't have been put together by other means, given the tightening of the budgets of the institutions”, said Maurízio Ferrante, who leads the integration of the Dema team.
The department is formed from various laboratories in three areas – Polymers, Ceramics and Metals. All of them underwent renovation for expansion, the recovery of the electrical circuits, the installation of a central air conditioning system, the installation of storage systems, the cooling and recycling of water and the operational infrastructure of manufacturing. The electrical circuit was designed in such a way as not to generate a magnetic field and not to allow voltage oscillations. The old electrical system was broken up into a 'clean circuit' destined for equipment of low power, of instrumentation and measuring, and the 'dirty circuit', for the high powered and noisy equipment that was isolated with new circuitry layout installations.
In only three years, the Dema had already felt the effects of the modernization of its installations by practically doubling its master's theses from twenty two to forty one. In the Laboratories for the Teaching of ceramics, new floors, benches, fume cupboards and a cooling system were installed. The reforms allowed for the installation of equipment of high value. There research with nanostructures for aerospace and electronic applications are being carried out. The laboratory makes use of high temperature ovens that heat up to around 2,000º C, under vacuum. The installation of these ovens was only possible thanks to the reforms of the electrical circuits and of the cooling system. Without this, the equipment would be subject to explosion.
Energy control
In the Cutting and Powder Milling Laboratory an isostatic press was installed that needs the rigid control of voltage. Two payments of the Infra resources created enough space for the installation of equipment donated by German institutions for the Metallurgy Laboratory. The installation of cooling towers and balanced electrical circuits was essential for the development of research in the Advanced Processes Laboratory, for the Nano Lab. Here the equipment named melt spinning prepares ceramic material for aerospace and electronic applications.
The Mechanics Testing Laboratory had its area increased. In the Mechanics Workshop of Dema, test samples are produced, as well as parts and devices for the maintenance of the equipment of other laboratories. Machines were purchases with numerical programmable commands, two lathes, two milling machines, one leveling plane, two soldering machines, plasma soldering and a band saw.
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