Recently, the Ministry of Education released the Notice on Establishment of Joint Lab for International Cooperation on “Translational Medicine and Clinic Research” and Other Joint Labs (JJH [2017] No. 52). The Joint Lab for International Cooperation on Light Alloy Materials built on the School of Materials Science and Engineering of Chongqing University was approved to be established by the Ministry of Education. Since initiation of the program by the Ministry of Education in 2014, it has approved the establishment of 41 joint labs for international cooperation. The Joint Lab for International Cooperation on Light Alloy Materials is the second joint lab for international cooperation of Chongqing University approved by MOE.

The Joint Lab for International Cooperation on Light Alloy Materials is established to meet the substantial demand for light alloy materials in sectors such as transportation, national defense and aviation in China . It relies on the advanced characterization technique platform and extensive experience in light alloy research of Chongqing University, with all-round multi-level international cooperation as the foundation. The Joint Lab has a number of top international talents in related areas, and is in possession of scientific and technological resources including equipment and platforms. It will be built into a world leading R&D base of light alloy materials. Its main research areas include advanced characterization technique of light alloy materials, phase transformation theory and alloy design, deformation mechanism and organization control, machine shaping technology, magnesium alloy and its application and aluminium alloy and its application.

Establishment of the Joint Lab for International Cooperation on Light Alloy Materials will further foster the communication and exchange between Chongqing University and world well-known research institutions, and will enhance the international scientific and technological cooperation capacity and scientific research capacity of Chongqing University, and expedite the development and construction of disciplines of Chongqing University such as material science.

Experts of the Joint Lab at a review meeting

Partners of the Joint Lab for International Cooperation on Light Alloy Materials include 14 internationally reputable organizations in the light alloy material area, such as Technical University of Denmark, University of British Columbia and Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The Joint Lab is built on platforms such as the National Research Center for Magnesium Alloy Material Engineering Technology, the Collaborative Innovation Center for Self-owned Brand Automobiles of Chongqing under “2011 Program” and the Innovation and Intelligence Introduction Center for “Advanced Material Genome Characterization and Control”.

The Chinese director of the Joint Lab is Professor Huang Xiaoxu, dean of the School of Materials and an expert of the “Recruitment Program of Global Experts”. Professor D. Juul Jensen from Technical University of Denmark, a fellow of Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters and Danish  Academy of Engineering, serves as the foreign director.