Dr Auinger’s paper entitled ‘Grain boundary oxidation in iron-based alloys investigated by O enriched water vapour – The effect of mixed oxides in binary and ternary systems,’ has been awarded the TP Hoar Award 2016, by the Institute of Corrosion.

The award takes its name from Dr Hoar who was the first recipient of the UR Evans Award – the premier scientific award of the Institute of Corrosion. The TP Hoar Award essentially recognises the Best Paper in Corrosion Science amongst engineers and scientists in steels processing.

This award marks a very successful period for Dr Auinger. In September he also received recognition from the European Optical Society (EOS), scooping the prestigious Best Paper Prize 2014-2015.

Kateryna Hechu, the lead author of a research paper entitled ‘Real-Time Measurement of Contraction Behaviour of Peritectic Steels During Solidification,’ has, along with her co-authors been awarded the prestigious 2017 Jerry Silver Award by The Association of Iron and Steel Technology (AIST).

AIST represents an international network of steel industry knowledge and expertise. It is a non-profit organisation with 17,500 members from more than 70 countries.

The Jerry Silver award is presented to the author of a process metallurgy or product applications technical paper judged to be the ‘best of class’ by the AIST Metallurgy – Processing, Products and Applications Technology Committee. One of the authors must be a student.

Steel production in the UK could be cheaper and more energy-efficient in the future, thanks to research at WMG, University of Warwick.

The ASSURE2 project, led by Professor Claire Davis, is looking to significantly cut steel production costs, and reduce energy consumption by over 300%, through exploring the use of belt casting technology.

Belt casting is a significantly lower energy production route compared to traditional continuous casting techniques, as belt casting is a near net shape casting process, producing strip that needs minimal hot deformation to achieve the required product thickness.

It is also very efficient because it can minimise or eliminate any reheating processes, which reduces overall costs.

Furthermore, there are certain advanced high strength strip (AHSS) steel grades which are commercially attractive but cannot be produced using conventional casting techniques - which could be manufactured using belt casting.

WMG, at the University of Warwick, will be building on its reputation in materials research, as it is set to be a hub for the development and application of advanced lightweight metals, thanks to a £1m Growth Deal award from the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP).

The award will create a local network of knowledge, equipment and skills – supporting WMG to share its expertise on steels and other advanced materials with companies in the CWLEP area, enabling them to exploit emerging technologies and new materials grades. In particular, those based on metallic materials and their effective forming and joining, often in combination with other materials.

The deal will fund new capital equipment, to be in WMG’s Advanced Steels Research Centre, based in the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Centre, which combined with WMG’s leading R&D capabilities will give local companies, in particular SMEs, the ability to introduce new market-leading products, improve the performance of existing products and introduce weight and/or cost saving in products.

Dr Auinger’s report on ‘Effects of surface roughness on optical heating of metals’ has been awarded the esteemed Best Paper Prize 2014-2015, by the European Optical Society (EOS).

Dr Auinger, who co-wrote the report and has been described as the main ‘driving force’ behind it, said: “The EOS is celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year, which makes this award extra special. It was a great surprise, and I feel totally honoured to receive such acclaim.”

The search for stable materials during fast temperature changes or thermal cycling conditions is one of the biggest challenges in modern alloy design. Dr Auinger conducted his research over a six month period with colleagues from Germany at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung in Düsseldorf and SENTECH Instruments in Berlin.

New strategies of making steel production more efficient have been discovered, thanks to research led by WMG at the University of Warwick on the role of oxidation during alloy additions.

The research, led by Dr Michael Auinger of WMG, together with the Vienna University of Technology (Austria) and voestalpine Stahl GmbH (Austria) developed a better understanding for the oxidation behaviour inside steels during hot rolling, which could potentially help manufacturers to reduce the amount of steel lost during production.

Dr Auinger and his co-researchers analysed the oxidation behaviour of different iron-based alloys. They found that particularly the combinations of iron-manganese and a second alloy addition - representing a simplified version of many high strength steels in automotive - suffer from severe oxide formation along grain boundaries if these alloys are processed in an inappropriate manner.

WMG is delighted to welcome Professor Zhang, who will be working alongside Professor Sridhar Seetharaman’s world-class Steels Processing Research Team, as part of a special month-long stay.

Professor Zhang, is an admired expert in the field of iron and steel manufacturing, especially for clean steel and modelling for process metallurgy, and is normally based at the School of Metallurgical and Ecological Engineering, at the University of Science and Technology in Beijing.

Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, Chairman of WMG, at the University of Warwick, and Hans Fischer, Chief Technical Officer of Tata Steel’s European operation, opened the new Tata Steel UK research centre, on Wednesday 28th of October, on the University of Warwick’s Science Park.

Engineers and researchers will be working on new steel coatings, including graphene, at the company’s new advanced coatings research laboratories. The opening marks the first phase of Tata Steel’s relocation of its UK R&D work to the University of Warwick campus.

Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya said:

“We are delighted to welcome Tata Steel here to the University of Warwick. Advanced steels research is crucial for the nation, and for manufacturing, this move shows Tata Steel’s long term commitment to research and development within the UK.”

The continued success and growth of WMG, at the University of Warwick, now means that it is seeking to hire 120 new recruits over the next 100 days.

WMG is a leading centre for world class education and applied research in many sectors including: automotive, aerospace and defence, business, construction, energy and utilities, IT, security and rail. They have recently won funding for several major research projects and partnerships that builds on our large array of collaborations with new and established partners.

WMG’s Chairman Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya said:

As we continue to grow and expand we are seeking individuals who thrive on a challenge and who aren’t afraid to defy conventional thinking. We are investing in, and creating, several new world-leading facilities to support these new projects. So we also need to invest in more talented people to take these projects forward and we will intend to recruit 120 of those people in the next 100 days.”

Some of the most recent developments, at WMG include a new £13.5 million Energy Innovation Centre and the £150 million National Automotive Innovation Centre.

WMG, at the University of Warwick and Tata Steel are strengthening their collaborative research and education programmes providing a critical mass of research excellence which will position the UK at the forefront of the international iron and steel research agenda.

There is already a strong relationship between the two organisations and the signing of an MOU seeks to promote the collaboration in the fields of science, technology and education.

A new £20m industry and government funded international centre for Advanced Steels Research is to be built at Warwick. This new world class centre will provide a unique national resource, and will complement Tata Steel’s long term investment in its own move to facilities based at the University of Warwick. WMG will be working with Tata Steel through a hub to bring together Tata Steel sponsored activity across UK universities.