Materials issues surfacing and particulate engineering

WJS Materials Technical Group Meeting held at TWI Conference Centre on Tuesday 2 June 2009

The Welding and Joining Society hosted the anticipated Materials Technical Group Meeting on Tuesday 2 June 2009 at TWI Cambridge Conference Centre and captured both the historical and present issues on the subject of surfacing and particulate engineering, through presentations and discussions.

Despite the recent economic downturn in the industry, this year's meeting was very well attended in an intimate atmosphere. Following coffee and registration of the speakers and delegates upon their arrival, a group photo was taken of the speakers with the chairman and secretary on the beautiful grounds of Abington Hall in a brilliant sunshine.

After a warm welcome and introduction by the chairman Dr. Peter Boothby, the event commenced with the keynote speaker Dr. Jeffrey Allen from Rolls Royce, who gave the audience a wonderful insight into the materials and technological issues with near net shape applications in Rolls Royce. During the brief question and answer session, it became apparent that novel powder production routes such as molten salt electrolysis process could indeed pave the way to improved processability and enhanced material production cycles.

The stage was then taken by John Dunkley from Atomising Systems who presented a highly educational overview of atomisation methods for metal powder spraying and net-shape applications. The talk was an excellent opportunity for the newcomers into the powder market, to appreciate the extent of which powders and allied technologies are employed across several industry sectors, primarily from automotive to medical and even off-shore industries.

The morning session followed by an excellent presentation by Dave Harvey of TWI-Cambridge, who summarised TWI's capabilities in the area of surfacing, and elaborated on recent advances in thermal and cold spray technology at TWI. The lecture was very informative and attracted a lot of attention from the audience.

The morning session then came to a close with a tour of TWI Surfacing facilities for a demonstration of thermal spraying as well as a visit to the TWI library for a brief introduction to the information services with a particular focus on the latest MI-21 data base (www.mi-21.com, a new service run by TWI in collaboration with NAMTEC and World Metal Index).

Delegates had a chance to network and establish contacts throughout lunch. Those, particularly interested in professional development were encouraged to join WJS, The Welding Institute and IOM3, and informed of benefits of professional membership and the registration with the Engineering Council towards for example, CEng status.

The meeting continued with Dr. Paul Nurthen of Hoganas, a major powder producer globally, who talked on metal powders, availability, applications and customised solutions. The presentation gave a compact overview of the activities of Hoganas with examples of new product developments where Hoganas powders are employed.

The second presentation in the afternoon was by Dr. Csaba Sinka from Leicester University, on industrial aspects and fundamentals of powder flow and die fill in the powder pressing industries, encompassing metals and ceramics to pharmaceutical products, where an accurate understanding of the powder behaviour is crucial for product consistency and process optimisation.

The final speaker of the day was Roger Fairclough of TWI-South Yorkshire, who captured the latest at TWI on near net shape processing using lasers. Several demonstration parts were at display in which the audience showed significant interest. As part of the discussion session that followed, delegates were made aware of the regional development programmes for example in south Yorkshire and north west) for those companies who would like to consider taking part in the technology transfer projects through TWI.

The meeting came to a close with a final speech from Chairman, who acknowledged the support of the Particulate Engineering Committee of IOM3 and TWI in organising the event, which turned out to be a highly successful one.

For further information on future meetings of the WJS Materials Technical Group, please contact directly the secretary, Dr. Cem Selcuk at cem.selcuk@twi.co.uk.

Left to right: Chairman, Peter Boothby (Macaw Engineering) and speakers: Jeffrey Allen (Rolls Royce), Roger Fairclough (TWI), John Dunkley (Atomising Systems), Paul Nurthen (Hoganas) and Dave Harvey (TWI) with Secretary, Cem Selcuk (TWI)