IK4-AZTERLAN has received at the beginning of the year the official communication from the AFS (American Foundry Society) that the publication “On the Nucleation of Graphite in Lamellar Graphite Cast Iron” presented in the Metalcasting Congress 2016, has been recognized with the award to the best research work, which award will be handed officially in the new edition of the Congress in April 2017.
The American Foundry Society (AFS) is an organization founded in 1896 that promotes the development of the foundry industry. It is integrated by 800 corporate members and 7500 individual members belonging to 48 countries of the whole world. At present it is the most important association in the diffusion of research works in the field of metallurgy. Among its activities it is included the organization of International Congresses in which IKA-AZTERLAN has taken part actively from the year 2011, date in which it was accepted as a corporate member.
In April 2016, Gorka Alonso (researcher in the area of R&D of Metallurgical Processes at IK4-AZTERLAN) and Doru Stefanescu (emeritus Teacher in the field of the Metallurgical Engineering for the Universities of Ohio and Alabama, and scientific collaborator of IK4-AZTERLAN) they presented in Minneapolis (Minnesota) a work in which it was realized a critical analysis of the different theories on the nucleation of the graphite in laminate foundry. Also, and in a completely novel way, the interrelation between the S content and the main nucleation mechanisms was established.
The presentation of this work in Metalcasting Congress can be considered to be the culmination of several years of investigation in this field of the metallurgy developed by a team of researchers of IK4-AZTERLAN composed by Esther de la Fuente, Pello Larrañaga and Ramón Suárez, in addition to the speakers.
This research has been selected among 300 papers presented by researchers from more than 20 countries. About 6000 persons attended to Metalcasting Congress 2016, turning into one of the Congresses that have generated greater expectancy in the world of the foundry industry.
This recognition places IK4-AZTERLAN among the Research Centers leaders in the field of the metallurgy and foundry on a global scale, with a few very promising perspectives of future development.
