Advanced Manufacturing of Advanced Materials

Abstract

Ultraprecision engineering and nanotechnology are considered nowadays as the technologies of the future. Their products find wide applications in various technological fields, replacing “traditional” manufacturing processing in industry. The new applications and devices that are currently under investigation by the scientists and engineers promise to bring revolution to each field they will be applied. In the field of computer science, new quantum computers are designed. Automotive and aerospace industry have a demand for “systems-on-a chip” in which miniaturization allows for all electronics systems, like computer memory, guidance, navigation, communication, power, sensors, actuators, to fit on a tiny tip.

The potential of high-temperature superconductivity is very high. High-T_c superconductors promise more efficient and powerful devices, increasing the energy efficiency and the amount of electricity that can flow through them, bringing, therefore, greater industrial competitiveness and improving the public's quality of life. These new ceramic materials, manufactured with advanced processing techniques, possess profound advantages compared to conventional conductors, as they can carry much higher currents, create larger magnetic fields, and carry electric current with no energy loss to resistance.

In this paper reported are some of the activities of the Laboratory of Manufacturing Technology of the NTUA in manufacturing engineering, focusing onto some recent trends and developments in advanced manufacturing of advanced materials, mainly emphasizing my long—standing Greek — Ukrainian — Russian — Hungarian scientific cooperation, also with international involvement worldwide, in the principal research and very important engineering topics nowadays, from industrial research and academic point of view, mentioned above: ultraprecision engineering and nanotechnology and net—shape manufacturing of high — temperature ceramic superconductors.