Skip to main content

Production and Materials Engineering

Materials for production. Photo.

The first semester of the Master's programme in Production and Materials Engineerings entails courses for increased knowledge on production technology, production systems, materials science, and materials selection. The semester is followed by more in-depth studies on production system analyses and production technology  together with 15 ECTS of elective courses for a broader or deeper course portfolio.

In the second year, further specialization is possible together with courses in applied FEM and research methodology.


Programme overview

Courses might be subject to change for the next coming academic year.

The links below will direct you to the Course website LTH and the course syllabus. 

Semester 1

Mandatory courses

The dominant methods in the manufacturing industry are turning, grinding and milling. In addition to these, drilling and surface treatment methods are also processes. For all methods, both tools, work materials, processes and machines are discussed. The course includes lectures, exercises, seminars and laboratory experiments.

Course Syllabus Production Technology

The course aims to provide knowledge of what governs the sustainability, competitiveness and profitability of modern manufacturing systems by making visible the strong and significant relationships between economics, sustainability and technology. Among others, the course includes manufacturing systems development and history from craft to production with high degree of automation.

Various types of production and production layouts are dealt with including group technology, flow groups and flexible manufacturing systems, as well as throughput times and cycle times at batch manufacturing and flow production. Systematic production analyses of performance parameters as rejection rates, availability and speed losses are used for manufacturing cost analyses and simulations. In addition, other methodologies for continuous development and improvement work based on resource efficient production and the principles for sustainable production and sustainable product realization are included. 

Course syllabus Sustainable Manufacturing System

The course aims to provide a deep and broad insight into the basic concepts and processes in materials science, which are necessary to choose, modify and use materials in various applications. The course deals among other with crystal structures, binary and ternary phase diagrams, alloy theory, material characterization, diffusion, and creep phenomena. During the classes, it will be possible to use optical and scanning electron microscopy, DTA, DSC and TGA for materials characterization.   

Course Syllabus Advanced Material Technology

Materials selection in the manufacture of a part is governed by its application and desired properties. The selected materials will in turn affect the method that can be used in manufacturing operations. The course provides an overall insight on material properties and and factors to take into consideration when selecting manufacturing methods. This means that these crucial choices are strongly linked.

A large part of the teaching is conducted with a commercial software from Cambridge University called Materials Selector (CES). CES can be used as a support for material and / or method selection and contains a large number of parameters / properties for all existing material groups used in manufacturing context including possible manufacturing methods.

Course Syllabus Materials and Process Selection

Semester 2

Mandatory courses

The aim of the course is an introduction to manufacturing processes, ranging from machining operations to production quality control and production cost analysis, according to requirements of the Smart Manufacturing.

Course syllabus Smart Manufacturing

The course provides methods on how to assess such as optimal economic automation level and sustainable production, how to use Monte Carlo simulations and statistical distributions when assessing production systems, and in-depth studies on how different technologies and manufacturing process settings affect the economic output from a production system. The aim is to further strengthening the knowledge and understanding on how production technologies, system configuration, long term sustainability and economic output are linked together.  

Course Syllabus Sustainable Manufacturing System Advanced Course

Elective courses semester 2

Choose two elective courses.

The elective courses might change from one year to another. Some have a limited number of seats.

The course gives basic knowledge on the tools and methods used for realisation, analysis and assessment of industrial control systems.The course combines topics from several other courses, such as automatic control, mathematical statistics, measurement technology and computer engineering, to demonstrate what automation may look like in various industrial branches. 

Course Syllabus Automation

The course aims to provide a more thorough understanding and competence in the field of metal cutting. It encompasses advanced models, theories, experimental techniques, and best practices of machining research. Starting with the basic principles of metal cutting, the course covers mechanical, thermal and tribological analysis. It includes the metallurgy of workpiece materials and their machinability. Furthermore, it explores the design of tooling solutions, tooling materials and their degradation under extreme process conditions.

Apart from machining research, the knowledge spans across several other disciplines such as mechanics of materials, heat transfer and thermodynamics, materials science, and production system. The achieved knowledge should prepare and facilitate the reader in active participation in R&D work within the field of machining. This is a course based on more than 30 years of research at the Department, covering both theory and practice in the field metal cutting on a world leading level.   

Course Syllabus Metal Cutting Adavanced Course

To support the entry into the Swedish labour market in production engineering, the program offers a course in Swedish. The course is to add value to the student and to awake an interest in the language and culture of Sweden as well as to facilitate communication. As the course is provided by another faculty the application period differs from the courses given by the faculty of Engineering.

Course website Swedish Language for Exchange students

The purpose of the course is for the student to work with a larger task, in order to reach deeper knowledge within the area of production technology and adjacent areas. The students will choose the area of interest individually (one or two students). The study can be in the form of a small development project or as a pre-study of the thesis work.

Course syllabus Project - Production and Materials Engineering

This course is given every second year, alternating with Powder Technology.

The course deals with materials for high temperature applications and considers the phenomena and problems associated with the use of materials at high temperatures. High Temperature behaviour of Materials: Plasticity, Fatigue, Creep, Oxidation and Corrosion. Refractory Metals, Inter-metallic, Stainless Steel, Nickel and Cobalt-based Superalloys, Ceramics and Cermets for High Temperature Applications. Alloy Theory, Heat Treatment and Hardening Mechanisms. Oxidation Resistant and Thermal Barrier Coatings

Course Syllabus High Temperature Materials

Computer aided design/Computer aided manufacturing

The theoretical part of the course deals with the different components and functions within the sub-areas computer aided design CAD, computer aided manufacturing CAM and computer aided engineering CAE. The content embodies basic CAD and CAM techniques, generating and manipulating assemblies,advanced solid modelling tools, transformations, projections, rendering, visualization, rapid prototyping, product data management (PDM) and product lifecycle management (PLM). During the practical part of the course the student work independently with hand-in exercises that are solved with the commercial software Creo Parametric.

Course Syllabus CAD/CAM/CAE

This course is given every second year, alternating with High Temperature Materials.  

The aim of the course is to help the student acquire a deep understanding of Powder Materials and Powder Metallurgy fundamentals and their Applications. The course content include metallic and ceramic powders, powder characteristics, powder production methods and linked manufacturing methods, and powder products and their usage.  

Course syllabus Powder Technology

The course comprises a number of practical tasks where different types of machines and workshop processes are introduced, followed by individual exercises in order to promote the practical skills of the student. Related to each practical task, theoretical aspects are illustrated and examined, e.g. in the applied materials section. The main part of the course is carried out in the student workshop facility and the machine equipment installed constitutes the focus of the course tasks.

Being examined from the course, each student will receive a workshop license which allows for utilizing the workshop in other LTH courses and in the thesis work. The course comprises education in machining of materials (turning, milling, drilling etc), sheet metal processing, welding (MAG, TIG, MMA), NC machining, tool technology and a comprehensive part including materials technology and heat treatment. The heat treatment part comprises material structures in different material groups, the heat treatments to achieve certain properties and sample preparation in order to analyse structures and properties. Theoretical models are used in order to understand achieved results.

The course spans over two study periods (50%).

Course Syllabus Workshop Practice

The course gives an overview of psychosocial work environment, safety and risk factors, work environment and economics, work environment legislation and standards. The course is built up on literature reviews with possibilities to ask questions and discuss the material with the course coordinator. The second part of the course will comprise of a workplace related project including: study visits, a survey and documentation of a work environment, a proposal of suggested improvements based on the current scientific knowledge, and a written report. The project will be guided and supervised by researchers in fields related to working environment and sustainability.

The course spans over two study periods (50%).

Course syllabus Working Environment, Occupational Health and Safety

Semester 3

Mandatory courses

The FEM (Finite Element Method) is a widely used engineering tool which, for instance, is used during development of products and manufacturing methods. The aim with the course is to give knowledge and practical abilities to work with commercial FEM-program. The work is carried out on applied problems and includes collection of necessary input values and the interpretation of the received analytical results. The course is focused on the practical use of the finite element method (FEM) and deals only with elementary FEM theory.

Course Syllabus Applied FEM

The overall purpose of the course is to provide  an understanding for and skills in how to organize projects and scientific studies within a logistics/production context. The students obtain knowledge and insights into research methodologies and project management, before taking on a group project where they focus on a chosen supply chain management area.

Course Syllabus Project Management and Research Methodologies

Elective courses semester 3

Choose two elective courses.

The elective courses might change from one year to another. Some have a limited number of seats.

The purpose of the course is to give basic knowledge in industrial robotics where theory is applied on industrial applied problems. The course is based on projects and focuses, in principle, on three problem areas: (1) Design of manufacturing systems with robots, (2) Programming and simulation of a robot and (3) Modelling of robots. The problem areas are defined in more detail at the start of each course. Within the problem areas, the following will in general be studied: characteristic features of robots with emphasis on the use in industry, programming and methods used in calibration and simulation, modelling and analysis of robot structures, use of robots in industry with adaptation and integration to processes, end-effectors and tools, safety and peripherals.

Course Syllabus Applied Robotics

The objective of the course is to introduce the students to the materials used in light constructions, e.g. light metals and composites. Focus will be on polymer matrix composites, but also the light metals Ti, Al, and Mg and other types of composites will be discussed.

Manufacturing methods, heat treatments, properties, and environmental aspects will be discussed in the course. Special focus will be on dimensioning methods for composites, especially laminate theory.

Course syllabus Lightweight Materials

The purpose of the course is for the student to work with a larger task, in order to reach deeper knowledge within the area of production technology and adjacent areas. The students will choose the area of interest individually (one or two students). The study can be in the form of a small development project or as a pre-study of the thesis work.

Course syllabus Project - Production and Materials Engineering

This is a hands-on practical course on using analytical methods in optical and electron microscopy for characterizing the microstructure, local chemistry and crystallographic orientations as well as global texture in metallic materials and minerals. The course is recommended for PhD and final year Masters’ students. 

Students should understand and acquire best practices on:

  • Specimens preparation from bulk samples,
  • Using optical- and scanning- electron microscopes (OMs and SEMs),
  • Obtaining and interpreting electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) patterns,
  • Obtaining and interpreting energy-dispersive X-ray spectra (EDS)

Course Syllabus Analytical Microscopy and Sample Preparation

The course will enhance the understanding of running production under different cultural, economic and technological conditions. The knowledge will be strengthened in terms of technical analysis and economic evaluation in conjunction with offers and pricing for the manufacture of products with high tolerance requirements, particularly developed in advanced and difficult to machine materials. Furthermore, the knowledge and understanding of location decisions of production will be strengthened.

Course Syllabus International Product Realisation

The purpose of the course is to provide a general understanding of issues related to industrial purchasing and supply management; to introduce a number of important theories, terminology and methods for purchasing; to identify, describe and analyse different parts of a company’s purchasing function and their supplier relationships; and to stimulate both the students’ critical analysis and their long-term interest in purchasing issues.

Course Syllabus Industrial Purchasing

The purpose of the course is for the student to work with a larger task, in order to reach deeper knowledge within the area of Engineering Mechanics and adjacent areas. The students will choose the area of interest individually (one or two students). The study can be in the form of a small development project or as a pre-study of the thesis work.

Course syllabus Project in Engineering Mechanics

The course comprises a number of practical tasks where different types of machines and workshop processes are introduced, followed by individual exercises in order to promote the practical skills of the student. Related to each practical task, theoretical aspects are illustrated and examined, e.g. in the applied materials section. The main part of the course is carried out in the student workshop facility and the machine equipment installed constitutes the focus of the course tasks.

Being examined from the course, each student will receive a workshop license which allows for utilizing the workshop in other LTH courses and in the thesis work. The course comprises education in machining of materials (turning, milling, drilling etc), sheet metal processing, welding (MAG, TIG, MMA), NC machining, tool technology and a comprehensive part including materials technology and heat treatment. The heat treatment part comprises material structures in different material groups, the heat treatments to achieve certain properties and sample preparation in order to analyse structures and properties. Theoretical models are used in order to understand achieved results.

The course spans over two study periods (50%).

Course Syllabus Workshop Practice

The focus is on international and global environmental issues, related to sustainable development. The issues are presented in lectures and/or seminars and through the literature: the concept of sustainable development; climate change; environmental impacts in connection with the use of natural resources; energy, water, land, solid waste. Other aspects are consumption patterns and the environment, environmental economics, the role of international institutions, policy making, cultural and ethical aspects on environment and sustainable development.

The course spans over two study periods (50%).

Course syllabus Environmental Issues

Semester 4

Degree Project in Production and Materials Engineering, 30 credits

Course syllabys Degree project

Page Manager: yens.wahlgren@lth.lu.se | 2021-11-26