FAtigue Testing Environment for developing extremely demanding applications “FATE”

The role of fatigue RDI has expanded and grown rapidly in steel and metal industry. The growth is coming not only from the changes in society to develop sustainable solutions and processes, but also from the new manufacturing technologies, such as additive manufacturing, as well as on the need to develop new materials for demanding applications. University of Oulu has developed its capabilities for empirical fatigue testing strongly in its remote campus in Nivala to serve the national and international RDI actors more efficiently. In the ongoing development, the investments for modern advanced testing technologies and their further development for testing the demanding environmental conditions are in a key position.

FAtigue Testing Environment for developing extremely demanding applications “FATE” -project of University of Oulu aims to support the specialization of metal workshops in manufacturing of sustainable products for demanding application by reinforcing the experimental fatigue testing possibilities and internationalization behind the RDI activities. The project gives the local industry a possibility for immediate development of their RDI-activities to overcome the challenges caused by the social crises like Covid-19. In long-term, the objective is to develop the innovation cluster of fatigue research in the University of Oulu and Nivala region to grow as the leading research environment and part of the spearhead research in global RDI. The project is focused on investing two fatigue testing equipment and taking them into practice.

The “FATE” project will be implemented between 1.1.-31.12.2023. The main implementer of the project is the Future Manufacturing Technologies (FMT) research group of the University of Oulu and the co-implementer is Nivala Industrial Park Ltd. The project is divided into a development section and an investment section, and its total budget is 332 160 €. The “FATE” project is funded as part of the European Union's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and has been granted by the Council of Oulu Region (EU/ERDF). Other funders of the project are the City of Nivala, the Kerttu Saalasti Foundation and Wärtsilä Finland Ltd.