The Materials Engineering Graduate Program was created in 1995, when UFOP, UEMG (the Minas Gerais State University/Universidade Estadual de Minas Gerais), and CETEC (the Minas Gerais Technological Center/Centro Tecnológico de Minas Gerais) signed an agreement to create The Thematic Network in Materials Engineering (Rede Temática em Engenharia de Materiais - REDEMAT). This partnership was needed in order to attend the three institutions' demand through a graduate program in the metallurgy and materials area, mainly in matters of graduating high level professionals who came from each institution. The master's degree program started in 1996 and was offered in the School of Mines, at UFOP. A few years later, in 2000, the doctorate program was launched, which completed the REDEMAT's consolidation process in graduate and research teaching activities from different areas of Materials Engineering. The program is divided in three concentration areas: 1) Manufacturing Processes, with the following lines of research: a) Metal working, processing, and refining; b) Injection of pulverized materials in metallurgical furnaces; c) Production of charcoal and electricity using microwaves; d) Material overview; e) Material recycling; f) Thermal treatments; g) Hydrometallurgy; and h) Biomaterials. 2) Materials' analysis and Selection, with the following lines of research: a) Reaction to fire of materials; b) Physical, chemical, and microstructural characterization; c) Characterization of raw materials; d) Modeling and simulation; e) Physical and transport properties; f) Fatigue and fracture of materials; and g) Design and material selection. And 3) Surface Engineering, with the following lines of research: a) Applied Tribology and b) Development of coatings, corrosion, and metal protection.. Nowadays, UFOP is the coordinating institution, while UEMG is the associated institution. CETEC left REDEMAT in January 2014.
