The University of Oulu (UOULU), founded in 1958, is an international science university, which creates new knowledge, well-being, and innovations for the future through research and education. At UOULU, researchers produce nearly 3000 scientific publications each year and several new research-driven start-ups take off every year. UOulu is usually ranked in the top three per cent. Affiliated to the Centre for Advanced Steels Research (CASR), Materials and Mechanical Engineering (MME) is a research unit of UOulu dedicated to the research, development, processing, properties, and applications of steels.
UOulu has the state-of-the-art facilities for materials testing, characterization, evaluation and modelling. AID4GREENEST will benefit from the following MME research equipment: Gleeble 3800 Thermo-mechanical simulator, Laboratory rolling mill equipped with direct quenching facilities, Zwick Vibrophore 100 Mechanical testing equipment, Simulation software (Thermo-Calc (R), Dictra (R), TC-Prisma (R), JmatPro (R)), besides EBSD software and advanced numerical simulation and modelling codes and programming languages. The group can perform microstructural analyses using following techniques: STEM, FESEM, EBSD, APXPS, XRD and EPMA.
Prof. Mahesh Somani is presently leading the research activities of various academy and EU projects at UOULU, besides taking care of international collaborative research and supervision of 2 doctoral researchers. During his research career spanning over 43 years, Prof. Somani has completed over 20 research projects and authored over 225 technical papers and 25 technical reports and has 2 patents to his credit. His academic/research interests include physical simulation and modelling, technology of alloy steels, innovative processing of stainless and special steels, physical metallurgy of direct quenching, phase transformations, static and dynamic restoration mechanisms, dynamic materials modelling, and strength of metallic materials.
Rishabh Bharadwaj, a PhD researcher at the Materials and Mechanical Engineering research unit, joined UOULU about 2 years ago and will be working in this project. He obtained a Bachelor of Technology degree from Pune University, India in the year 2014 and later Master of Technology degree in Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India in 2019. After getting his B.Tech. degree, he immediately started his professional career by joining JSW Steel Limited, Mumbai, and completed his Master’s degree while working in the company. Rishabh started his research career at UOULU in a HEU project in February 2024 and later he registered for doctoral research studies in May 2024. He has authored/co-authored 7 technical papers.