The group has established a comprehensive system of tribo-tests. Latest developments include a micro-tribo tester for scaled friction and lubrication testing and a fully automatic sheet tribo-tester running consecutive tests from coil with controlled loading and speed. Nanotribology is focused on fundamental Molecular Dynamics simulations applied to fuel lubricity and polymer tribology research. Experimental methods in these fields have been developed for comparison with these calculations.
Joining activities are concentrated on resistance welding and friction stir welding. Special focus is directed towards analysis and modeling of welding of advanced high strength steels, ultra-high strength steels and new lightweight materials.
Metal casting of complex and optimized components is another important activity. This area stands on two legs: materials engineering, and optimized production methods. Research activities in materials engineering have for several years been on characterizing solidification morphology of cast iron as well as predicting its macroscopic mechanical properties based on advanced micromechanical models in combination with synchrotron experiments. Regarding optimizing production processes and process control focus has been in determining factors that control the precision of castings including studies of process capabilities (precision of moulding machines, patterns, cores, sand preparation etc.) in combination with geometrical mapping of moulding patterns compared with measured variations in the dimensions of castings.