A portable metal-casting kit developed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) is taking one of manufacturing’s oldest industrial processes past traditional foundries and into classrooms, public events, and even local bars.
The compact demo, Known as ‘Foundry in a Box,’ lets participants safely cast molten tin into small souvenirs like keychains, delivering a hands-on introduction to the fundamentals of metal casting.
Designed as an outreach tool, the portable setup condenses a process normally associated with large industrial facilities into a compact, transportable unit. Wearing protective gloves and safety goggles, participants pour molten tin into molds and leave with a finished metal keepsake while learning how casting underpins products used across the automotive, aerospace, construction, and manufacturing industries.
Unlike machining, which removes material from a larger piece, casting involves pouring liquid metal into a mold and allowing it to solidify into a desired shape. The method can produce components with complex geometries and remains a key part of manufacturing, from small hardware to large industrial machinery.
“Metal casting is everywhere,” said Swaroop Behera, a doctoral engineering student at UWM who has expanded the initiative. “So long as anyone is making something out of any metal, metal casting is going to be there.”
Making manufacturing more accessible
The project aims to expose students and the general public to manufacturing technologies that often receive little attention in traditional science and engineering education.
While ‘Foundry in a Box’ had existed previously, Behera helped broaden its reach after becoming president of UWM’s student chapter of the American Foundry Society. The team has since brought the portable foundry to schools, university events, and community venues, growing participation from a handful of students to hundreds each year.
The initiative has also attracted interest from educators. A presentation on the portable casting system at a Wisconsin Technology Education Association conference reportedly drew a standing-room-only audience.
According to Behera, letting participants build an object with their own hands makes manufacturing concepts easier to understand and encourages greater interest in engineering disciplines.
Supporting next-gen manufacturing engineers
The outreach effort has also received recognition from industry. The Foundry Educational Foundation, which strengthens ties between universities and the metal-casting industry, established a graduate fellowship at UWM after seeing the program’s success. Behera became its first recipient.
Alongside the outreach initiative, Behera’s doctoral research focuses on developing aluminum alloys that could replace titanium in certain high-temperature applications—a development that could eventually benefit industries looking for lighter, high-performance materials, including aerospace and advanced manufacturing.
Titanium is valued for its strength and high-temperature performance, but it can be expensive to process. Developing aluminum alloys that perform under demanding conditions could offer manufacturers another material option, although any replacement would depend on the specific application and its performance requirements.
Although his plans remain open, Behera says he hopes to keep connecting engineering research with practical applications while encouraging more students to explore manufacturing careers.
“Science has gone really far ahead, and technology is playing catch-up—that’s where materials science comes in,” he said. “You’re always trying to figure out and solve a specific problem for a given industry.”