From May 16 to 17, the 5th International Conference on Metallic Materials and Processing (ICMMP) and the 5th International Conference on Lightweight Materials & Engineering Structures (LIMAS) were held in Changsha, Hunan Province. The conference was led by Central South University and co-organized by the Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Brunel University London. It was undertaken by the State Key Laboratory of Precision Manufacturing for Extreme Service Performance of Central South University and co-sponsored by the China Society for Technology of Plasticity, Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society. The conference co-chairs were Prof. Hailiang Yu and Prof. Lihua Zhan from Central South University, Prof. Mingwang Fu from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Prof. Shouxun Ji from Brunel University London.
The opening ceremony of the conference was presided over by Prof. Hailiang Yu, Conference Chair from Central South University. Prof. Xuhui He, Vice President of Central South University, delivered the opening address. He stated that as a talent hub and innovation center in China’s non-ferrous metals, rail transportation and medicine. Central South University has always adhered to the school motto of “Create Knowledge and Serve Society” and is committed to building a world-class university. The university boasts a number of national-level research platforms, including the State Key Laboratory of Precision Manufacturing for Extreme Service Performance. It has developed distinctive characteristics and international influence in metallic material processing and lightweight structure design. The university hopes to take this conference as an opportunity to further deepen substantive cooperation with global partners, and translate innovative achievements from laboratories to production lines and from theoretical breakthroughs to engineering practice. Ms. Hong Tao, Vice Chairperson of the Changsha Association for Science and Technology, also delivered an address. She pointed out that the concurrently held dual conferences focus on cutting-edge directions such as metallic materials, advanced processing and lightweight structures, gathering top scholars from more than ten countries and regions and presenting over 130 high-level reports. They serve not only as a platform for the collision and integration of academic ideas, but also as a pragmatic platform for industry-university-research collaborative innovation, injecting strong impetus into the development of the global materials field.
As an influential academic event in the field of materials and manufacturing, the joint conference brought together more than 280 experts and scholars from renowned universities and research institutions worldwide, including Imperial College London, National University of Singapore, the University of Queensland, the University of New South Wales, Tsinghua University, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Harbin Institute of Technology. The conference featured two plenary sessions and eight parallel sessions, focusing on core topics such as metal material design and additive manufacturing, advanced processing technologies and intelligent manufacturing, high-performance structural materials and composites, and lightweight material design and multiscale modeling, facilitating in-depth discussions and academic exchanges. The plenary sessions were chaired by Prof. Mingwang Fu, Associate Director of Research Institute for Advanced Manufacturing at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Prof. Lihua Zhan, Dean of the School of International Education at Central South University; Prof. Dou Zhang, Dean of the Powder Metallurgy Research Institute at Central South University; and Prof. A. Pesin, Deputy Head of the Laboratory “Mechanics of Gradient Nanomaterials named after A.P. Zhilyaev” at Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Russia. Twenty distinguished scholars from around the world, including Academician Jianguo Lin (Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK), Academician Peidong Wu (Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering), Academician Karimi (Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences), and Academician Yandong Li (Fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences), delivered plenary lectures. In addition, the conference featured over a hundred keynote and invited presentations, and forums for young scholars, oral presentations, poster sessions, and abstract presentations, comprehensively showcasing the latest research achievements in the field.
At the ICMMP conference, Prof. Jianguo Lin from the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK, delivered a plenary lecture titled “AI in Materials Processing Applications”. He stated that artificial intelligence and multiscale modeling technology are profoundly reshaping material processing processes, providing a new technological paradigm for the precise manufacturing of components with extreme service performance. He analyzed the application difficulties of artificial intelligence in the field of material processing through multiple application cases, and clearly identified that the core bottleneck in developing related artificial intelligence software systems lies in data accuracy, historical process record reserves, and the digital transformation of technical workers’ experience. At the LIMAS conference, Prof. Mingwang Fu, Chair Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, delivered a plenary lecture titled “Damage and fracture in deformation-based manufacturing”. He stated that material deformation and deformation-based manufacturing are critical engineering practices and efficient processes. A scientific understanding of the formation, occurrence, mechanisms and behaviors of damage and fracture is essential for deformation-based forming processes.
It is reported that the ICMMP and LIMAS conferences have been successfully held multiple times in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Xi’an and Hong Kong, China. This joint conference has further promoted the deep integration of industry-university-research in the global field of materials and manufacturing, injecting new momentum into the innovative development of metal materials and lightweight manufacturing technologies, as well as the construction of a green and sustainable industrial ecosystem. It is of great significance for enhancing China’s international academic influence in this field.
(First Review: Gao Haitao; Second Review: Yu Hailiang; Third Review: Xiao Lairong)
