Innovation and metallurgy: Alberto Molinari reflects on a life of research and achievements.

There are teachers who leave a lasting mark on a student’s journey—not just for the knowledge they share, but for how they ignite curiosity and passion for learning. Alberto Molinari has been one of those mentors for many generations of students. With his enthusiasm, dedication to research, and ability to make even the most complex metallurgical phenomena fascinating, he has shaped not only engineers but also thinkers and innovators.

Now, after an extraordinary career, the time has come for him to bid farewell to university life and begin a new chapter. In this interview, we look back with him on some key moments of his journey—from the challenges he faced to the successes he achieved, and his advice for those entering the world of materials engineering today.

After a long career in research and teaching metallurgy, you’re now concluding your academic path. What initially motivated you to pursue this career?
There’s no doubt that my main motivation was the unique opportunity the role of university professor offers: combining two fascinating and intellectually stimulating professions—teaching and research. I realized this while working on my thesis and observing my supervisor’s work up close. I graduated in chemical engineering in 1981, and at that time, chemical engineers had no trouble finding jobs in the Italian chemical industry. Even before graduating, I had two offers from major petrochemical companies.
But I chose to wait and applied for a research grant from IRST (now FBK) on a project involving heat treatment of high-speed steels, guided by two professors from the University of Padua who became my mentors: Prof. Tiziani and Prof. Ramous. That experience gave me even deeper insight into the university profession, and I decided to pursue that path.
I was lucky—research and teaching have proven to be incredibly stimulating and fulfilling.

Over the course of your career, you’ve witnessed extraordinary developments in materials science. In your view, what have been the most significant breakthroughs in metallurgy in recent decades?
Many traditional metallic materials have undergone significant evolution over the past 40 years, even if this process isn’t widely recognized. For instance, high-strength steels were limited to just a few types at the beginning of my career, but now they encompass a wide variety and are crucial in the automotive industry, allowing for lighter structures while improving vehicle safety. These steels are highly knowledge-intensive and reflect the application of theoretical physical metallurgy.
Similar developments have occurred in tool steels, stainless steels, and also in aluminum, magnesium, titanium, and nickel alloys. While these aren’t revolutions per se, they represent exceptional advancements, supported by huge progress in production processes—especially in the steel industry.
In the late ’80s, intermetallic compounds were developed, which found successful applications at high temperatures. We also saw the rise of nanomaterials—although in metallurgy, they didn’t succeed due to their low ductility and thus poor toughness. I remember the brief season of metallic glasses, which disappeared from scientific literature after only a few years.
Today, high-entropy alloys are popular. They’re very strong at high temperatures and the subject of intense research, showing more promise than metallic nanomaterials ever did.
Manufacturing processes have also made great strides—not just improving product quality, but also energy efficiency and environmental impact. Examples include vacuum treatments for refining molten metals, induction and plasma heating, solid-state, plasma and laser welding, and hot isostatic pressing with rapid cooling. These are all techniques I encountered in recent years.
However, the only true revolution has been additive manufacturing.

Your work has had a major impact in both academia and industry. What was your greatest challenge, and what achievement are you most proud of?
I believe I conducted high-quality research, with a focus on applied research—especially in collaboration with industry. The biggest challenge was producing results that were both practically useful and publishable—two goals that often seem at odds.
Looking at my scientific CV, I feel satisfied—not only because of the publications, but because some industrial products and processes in active use today bear the mark of my work.
I’m especially proud of my long-term collaborations with leading European companies in powder metallurgy. I also believe I contributed meaningfully to our understanding of powder sintering.
Receiving two honorary doctorates and fellowships from one European and one American association meant a lot to me. But what I’m truly proud of is in my personal CV: letters from students and PhD candidates who felt the need to express their gratitude at the end of their academic journey.

Metallurgy today lies at the heart of many innovations—from sustainability to advanced manufacturing. What do you see as the next major challenges and opportunities for young researchers?
At a recent conference in Spain where I was invited to speak about permanent magnets, I mentioned that I feel like I’m retiring at the wrong time. The sustainability challenges we face demand the development of materials and processes that still don’t exist with the required performance—so the research landscape is full of exciting and promising avenues.
I think of permanent magnets based on transition metals and rare earths, catalysts for hydrogen electrolysis and CO₂ conversion, materials for solid-state hydrogen storage.
I think of replacing cobalt in its many applications, and developing batteries that use as little lithium as possible. I also think of magnesium alloys for biodegradable biomedical devices and structural light-weighting.
In terms of processing, there’s the challenge of green steel—low-emission steelmaking. Reducing emissions to zero seems extremely difficult as long as carbon remains in steel.
Then there’s the issue of secondary processes—recycling production scrap and end-of-life components. Steelmaking sets an excellent example here.
Additive manufacturing has matured in some applications, but more work is needed to bring it up to the reliability and maturity of traditional manufacturing methods like forging and casting.
For many potentially valuable applications—like energy production—we’ll need to develop new superalloys suitable for laser powder bed fusion or direct laser deposition.
There are many research directions that young people can pursue. The ones I’ve listed are just based on my own recent experience. But there’s also a pressing need for Italy to adopt an industrial and research policy that prioritizes materials. The great sustainability challenge can only be met if we have the right materials and technologies.

After so many years of teaching and research, what message would you like to leave for your students and young people starting out in this field?
The most exciting moment in research is when you get a result and need to interpret and justify it. In that moment, you rely on two tools: your knowledge and your ability to reason. These tools are built day by day and can always be refined—if you have curiosity and critical thinking.
So my message is: always cultivate curiosity and critical thinking, combined with a healthy dose of humility, which is one of the finest human qualities.
In teaching, I encourage rigor—both with students and with yourself. And generosity.
I consider it a privilege to have helped educate two generations of engineers. It also made me realize that I’ve grown older while staying close to young people—which helped me better understand our rapidly changing world and live more fully in it.

Finally, now that you’re stepping away from academia, do you have any plans for the future? Will you continue collaborating with industry, or do you have other interests to pursue?
I can’t imagine stopping work and study completely. So I’ll continue working for a few more years—though not full-time—offering consulting services to industry, which I find deeply engaging.
In my free time, I want to travel around Italy and Europe, even by bike, and especially in our beautiful Dolomites. And I want to read—mostly history books, but not only.