METAL 2010 -Impressive List of free papers on: Steels & Steelmaking, Surface Eng. Non-Ferrous Metals & Alloys in English, from the Cech Republic's Symposium Metal 2010

This post, one of several to be done (TBD), was originally motivated by my search into manufacturing work on low density automotive sheet steel recently published in Nature. If readers wish to carry out their own reseach in this, or better, contribute to my approach, you will find the Nature publication, reference entitled "Brittle intermetallic compound makes ultrastrong low-density steel with large ductility" together with the abstract at the end of my post.

Now in the course of my search I unearthed quite an impressive librairy of freely available papers on Steelmaking,steel properties and metallurgy.

Please find a subject index and link to papers, in english, thanks to the Cech Republic's Symposium Metal 2010.


METAL 2010 - List of papers:  - List of papers by symposia

- PLENARY SESSION Symposium.

List of Symposium and Poster Sessions by Theme:

A - ADVANCED IRON AND STEELMAKING.

B - METAL FORMING.

C - STEEL PRODUCTS - PROPERTIES.

D - MODERN TRENDS IN SURFACE ENGINEERING.

E -NON-FERROUS METALS AND ALLOYS

OTHER: -

Publications without attendance

Workshop -

LINK to Metal 2010



Reference to Nature: 

Brittle intermetallic compound makes ultrastrong low-density steel with large ductility
Nature 2015, 10.1038/nature14144
Abstract:

Although steel has been the workhorse of the automotive industry since the 1920s, the share by weight of steel and iron in an average light vehicle is now gradually decreasing, from 68.1 per cent in 1995 to 60.1 per cent in 2011 (refs 1, 2). This has been driven by the low strength-to-weight ratio (specific strength) of iron and steel, and the desire to improve such mechanical properties with other materials. Recently, high-aluminium low-density steels have been actively studied as a means of increasing the specific strength of an alloy by reducing its density. But with increasing aluminium content a problem is encountered: brittle intermetallic compounds can form in the resulting alloys, leading to poor ductility. Here we show that an FeAl-type brittle but hard intermetallic compound (B2) can be effectively used as a strengthening second phase in high-aluminium low-density steel, while alleviating its harmful effect on ductility by controlling its morphology and dispersion. The specific tensile strength and ductility of the developed steel improve on those of the lightest and strongest metallic materials known, titanium alloys. We found that alloying of nickel catalyses the precipitation of nanometre-sized B2 particles in the face-centred cubic matrix of high-aluminium low-density steel during heat treatment of cold-rolled sheet steel. Our results demonstrate how intermetallic compounds can be harnessed in the alloy design of lightweight steels for structural applications and others., Hansoo K. et al



'via Blog this'

Key facts about the Steel industry from the World Steel Association

As Europe struggles in the face of high growth emerging economies - "Europe
and the United States show a weakness in both GDP and industrial production as GDP is forecast to grow less than 2.0% in both 2011 and 2012, as opposed to an expected 9.0% and 7.5% growth in 2012 for China and India, respectively. (Ref 1. World Economic Outlook: Slowing Growth, Rising Risks, IMF, September 2011." whose role in economic downturns have been severely criticised by Nobel Economist Joseph Stieglitz as one of a bad lot of players, The Major US Bankers, their  followers, The anti-regulation lobby (lubby) The Frankenstein Labs for Innovation & Creativity of Wall Street, dixit JS)

I feel that I owe an atonement for neglecting this indispensable association of  the worlds steelmakers is ever more a necessity.

cf. links below taken from their website - many important reports and statistics are freely available.

Before the reader rushes down to these links let me draw your attention to the green background. Whether intentional or I surmise not, I was already thinking along these such a line. Environmental demands which must be brought to bare on these brave tough masculine environments.  Indeed the world Steel Association has drawn up a report entitled " Sustainable-steel-at-the-core-of-a-green-economy"

Sustainable-steel-at-the-core-of-a-green-economy.pdf

in particular let me draw the readers attention to Page 36 of the report

WHAT GOVERNMENTS AND POLICYMAKERS CAN DO TO HELP

I trust this may be of some help in our troubled Europe, in which the conservatives have raised a "hue & cry" for improved competitivity - ie more flexibility->lower wages (on average) at the lower levels, less people etc. Out side the industry the cry has reached top management (automobile industry - probably already squeezing the steelmaker to death- However I have never heard those who flex their vocal muscles and their financial clout to the extent of taking a huge cut in salary of the order of the crises they are so keen to underline.

I trust not everyone will enjoy reading this! 

Key facts about the Steel industry

• Steel: A key driver of the world's economy
• Sustainable steel
• Steel in your life
• Safe, innovative and progressive steel
• Life cycle thinking

Surface chemistry: A close look at hydrophobicity_Wetting_non-Wetting_Bulk Steelmaking Macro to Nanotechnology and Biomimicry

This post was motivated by a recent publication (14 Feb. 2011 in Nature Asia Materials) entitled

 Surface chemistry: A close look at hydrophobicity : research highlight : NPG Asia Materials (ref. 1)

Much progress has been made in understanding the phenomena involved in the wetting of solid surfaces by liquids, in the characterisation of wetting phenomena since Charles Macintosh (FRS) chemist and engineer famous for the impermeable named after him (1766 – 1843) for that that matter since my very first study as young,high temperature physical chemistry,research scientific officer involved in "wetting- non-wetting of refractory surfaces by liquid steel (mpt.1500°C) so fundamental to steelmaking and it's manufacturing process improvement.(1969-71)  It appeared to provide a surprising historical insight into the study of wetting, hydrophobia-hydrophilic as well as an occasion to revisit themes treated pragmatically in my very first study project involving the formation of gas bubbles on refractory surfaces in steel, perhaps re-situate it in what has today become a flourishing inspirational approach to many biomimetic material innovations.  Our focus at the time (1970) was the then new vacuum degassing DH and RH processes whereby liquid steel is recycled through a vacuum chamber. Deoxidation is by carbon forming CO/CO2 gas bubbles formed under the prevailing vacuum conditions. Often the liquid steel circulation was hindered in the narrow recirculation legs by unwanted CO/CO2 gas bubbles. We confirmed the role of liquid wetting, active or unwetted pore size, the influence of choice of refractory materials, and the combined influence of the overhead atmospheric pressure and the pressure of the head weight of liquid steel. The total pressure was varied by reducing the atmospheric pressure. Data is shown below:

 

Ref. 2 The growth of carbon monoxide bubbles on refractory surfaces during vacuum degassing of iron melts.  J. Alexander, G.S.F Hazeldean, M.W. Davies Sheffield Conf. 1971  and BISRA -Corp Labs of British Steel Corp. Report CH/28/71.



If I personally did not follow-up this applied research in bulk liquid metal degassing, it did stand me in good stead for rapidly coming to terms with gas bubble phenomena in liquid steel and special alloys. For example Fe-Ni and Fe-Ni-Co alloys, Invars and Covars highly sensitive to CO gas solubility and rimming or degassing during solidification. The larger the ingot the more difficult it is to solidify and subsequently remove remaining traces of gas blow-holes. Nevertheless ingot sizes were increased from 4T to 10T and even to 18T. Similarly improvements were made in VIM-vacuum induction melting and refining and VAR-vacuum arc remelting etc. all stemming from intimate knowledge of C deoxidation reaction its theoretical and practical limitations and of the physics and chemistry of wetting.

If I and worse the reader feels that this is old-hat stuff, I and hopefully the reader like me will be most encouraged by the historical background referenced in the title paper:
Surface chemistry: A close look at hydrophobicity : research highlight : NPG Asia Materials  (14 Feb. 2011) Ref. 3.


Wenzel's referenced work is "Wenzel RN (1936) Resistance of solid surfaces to wetting by water. Ind Eng Chem" and Cassies referenced work is Cassie ABD, Baxter S (1944) Wettability of porous surfaces. Trans Faraday Soc 40:546–551.28:988–994. [ WENZEL STATE _ WENZEL-CASSIE-TRANSITION_free from PNAS.ORG [Pdf format] (Ref. 3)

Of course lower temperature (RT) phenomena and modern computing techniques and computer technological advance readily allow molecular dynamic (MD) simulations to be carried out. If accent in the 1960-1980's focused on macro-phenomena and increasing productivity and economies of size. Recent approaches focus more and more on the infinitely small-nanoscience and technology first driven by micro-electronics (Moore's Law ) and much more recently inspired by biomimicry cf for example The Biomimicry Institute. 

The types of  applications, inventions, innovations arising from nanotechnology and the biomimetic approach are given in ref. 4 below.

NB. Recent great mind who moved from solid state physics to explore  
"Capillarity and Wetting Phenomena: Drops, Bubbles, Pearls, Waves"
 and on to soft materials is the late and much regreted Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, who associated with Francoise Brochard-Wyart and David Quere authored the book in the above title. cf also amazon's offer in Books below.

Refs:
1. Surface chemistry: A close look at hydrophobicity : research highlight : NPG Asia Materials

2. Ref. 2 The growth of carbon monoxide bubbles on refractory surfaces during vacuum degassing of iron melts. J. Alexander, G.S.F Hazeldean, M.W. Davies Sheffield Conf. 1971 and BISRA -Corp Labs of British Steel Corp. Report CH/28/71.

3. WENZEL STATE - WENZEL CASSIE [Pdf]

4. Hydrophobicity - Superhydrophobicity

5. Good overall introduction to physics of Wetting, Adhesion, Biomimicry, Friction:
Nick Fang's Lecture_Wetting_Adhesion_Biomimicry_Friction_Macro to Nano [pdf]

RELATED POSTS:

1. Whisky - Chemical up-date from the RCS-Chemistry World

2. Water repellent properties, Biomimicry, Self Assembling Molecules, Network of micro- nanowires, excellent imagery in "Nanomaterials: Cu Water Strider .

3. Metaklett-steel grips, Biomimicry and Shape Memory Alloy meanders

4. Nanotechnology - to many to list - use blog search tool - top left.  

GOOGLE BOOKS:

Capillarity and wetting phenomena: drops, bubbles, pearls, waves by P_Gilles de Gennes et al

Calculation of CO2 in Nuclear Power Plant Construction

If you are looking for some simple but effective calculations to answer such apparently complex question as:

-What is the CO2 pollution from nuclear construction and what is it’s significance? or
-How much CO2 is produced when making the 520,000 cubic meters of concrete and 67,000 tonnes steel needed to make in a 1GW nuclear power station?

Then an excellent place to start is Tim Jarvis’s blog notes. Calculation methods and data sources are clearly stated as are any order of magnitude approximations made.

I strongly recommend the interested reader to visit the above reference and many other posts on Tim's web-log.

Tim's approach naturally caught my attention as a metallurgist, involved in the energy intensive manufacturing of clean steels and special alloys, for many years. Processes involved are often by definition, of the more controllable, electric steelmaking type, whose heat source is totally independent of chemically produced heat, eg. from carbon combustion with oxygen (CO2)or other chemical or metallic additions. High duty high reliability applications would typically include high temperature (creep resistant = slow stretching or flow) corrosion resistant, high strength and toughness aeronautic and nuclear quality grades...

Therefore, I am particularly pleased to reference more widely, sources of CO2 pollution from steelmaking mostly from Tim’s site but also my own questioning leading to a short review from IISI “International Iron & Steel Institute's data.

References
1. Danish Technology Institute report on CO2 in concrete production.

2. Blue Scope Steel

3. Azom Materials suggests around 2 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of steel.

4. Tata Steel claims
between 1.2 and 1.9 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of steel, depending on the process.

5. The International Iron & Steel Institute (IISI), based in London is probably one of the most authoritative if not the most authoritative global reference for CO2 in crude steel.

Jarvis concludes, as his article title indicates that:
CO2 pollution from nuclear construction is irrelevant

He recognises and pin-points the many of the implications for energy sources and the urgency required if CO2 reduction is to be properly addressed.

"This ignores the pollution from getting the fuel and running the plant. Also remember the CO2 is largely produced up front, which is bad news for quick CO2 reduction, but even building 10 GW of capacity to replace the UK's ageing plants will only produce 3 million tonnes of CO2 during construction - less than 1% of UK CO2 pollution in one year."

Thanks Tim for an enlightening piece of work.