Research expertise takes two to UK

A specialized research expertise at Mississippi State is taking two engineering professors to the United Kingdom.

Emmanuel Agba and John Berry, both of mechanical engineering, are undertaking a joint research project with three universities in the United Kingdom in July.

They have been invited by Southampton Institute to discuss a new technology involving high speed machining (HSM). Agba also will visit the University of Birmingham to meet with researchers to evaluate the high speed machining process as it relates to hardened die steels. Berry will present a paper on modeling casting solidification and chair a session at the Solidification Processing Conference at Sheffield University.

Berry noted that their efforts will "further explore the new developments in the machining use of high speed cutting processes and also assess the economic advantages associated with this new technology."

"Our hope is to establish sound contacts and networks with our European colleagues to conduct future joint research operations, and to be able to bring back new technical processes that will benefit Mississippi industry in the months and years to come," added Agba.

The two are the first researchers in the Southeast to address the effects of HSM and how it can be incorporated into the manufacturing of consumer goods.

While preliminary experiments have been conducted in other areas of the country, mainly in California and the industrial centers of the Northeast, the United States remains far behind other nations in the exploration of this new area of study, the two said. The United Kingdom, Germany and Japan have performed extensive analyses of the HSM process.

Agba said that the department may attempt similar joint efforts with universities in Japan and Germany. "Engineering dean Wayne Bennett has supported such international endeavors and is very pro-active in the area of information sharing. The department realizes that there are many advantages in global research of new and emerging technologies."