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The 1996 Japan / America Meeting on Steelmaking

Clean Steel for the 21 st Century: Fundamental Issues

dedicated to the memory of Prof. Julian Szekely

The first Japan America joint seminar was organized by Profs. J. F. Elliott and T. Fuwa in 1976 in Boston, the second by Profs J. F. Elliott and T. Mori in 1983 in Kyoto and the third by Profs R.J. Fruehan and N. Sano in 1991 in Myrtle Beach. The fourth Japan America Joint Seminar was held from April 25-27, 1996 in the Futtsu research laboratories of Nippon Steel Corp. in Chiba Japan. The subjects discussed were clean steel production, recycling, environmental issues and new casting techniques.

The pre-planning meeting at CMU

Project Summary

The future direction of steel production is towards the near net shape production of defect free steel products via an environmentally benign processing route. This vision of the future is a radical departure from the traditional view of this smoke-stack industry. Both in Japan and in the United States, the steel industry is under undergoing a remarkable change and technological advancements are leading to a new steel industry which is cost competitive with the rest of the world.

Research plays a major role in the development of the steel industry and in both the United States and in Japan there are significant research programs aimed at understanding the fundamental processing problems involved in the production of defect free steel products. Thus to allow academics and industrial researchers from both the United States and Japan to interact and share information a joint U.S. - Japan Seminar on "Clean Steels for the 21 st. Century " was held in April of 1996 in Japan.

There is considerable fundamental research carried out on this topic in both countries and although technical "Know-How" is often confidential, the process fundamentals are of common interest and openly discussed and published. This seminar allowed a free exchange of information, extensive discussions and, the potential for collaborative research opportunities.

This was the fourth joint seminar and like the previous seminars in 1976, 1983, 1991 it was highly successful. A detailed review of the meeting will be published in the Iron and Steelmaker, the largest circulation magazine in the field in the United States.

Seminar Description

Technically advanced countries must continue to develop primary steel production processes which are economical, pose fewer environmental problems and produce high quality steels for national and international markets. Both Japan and the United States are developing new iron production processes, new casting processes and new dust and sludge recycling processes to make their industries more cost competitive and more environmentally benign. It was the purpose of this seminar to allow University and industrial interaction on these significant topics in a manner which emphasizes discussion so that fundamental research programs can be appropriate to the significant problems faced by industry. In addition, through exchange of fundamental information on generic problems, both industry and university personnel became informed of the experimental techniques and information which is being developed in both countries and is aimed at a solution to current processing problems. One function of this seminar was to allow current information to be exchanged before publication to ensure that research conducted in both countries is at the leading edge and is not unnecessarily duplicated.

There were three generic areas covered by the seminar: Clean Steel Production, Recycling and Environmental Issues, and New Casting Techniques. Each of these areas is a major area of industry and university effort in both Japan and the United States.

Clean Steel Production

Recycling and Environmental Issues

New Casting Techniques

The proposed symposium was an excellent forum for exchange of information regarding both experimental techniques and the results of research in the above areas.

Participants

A number of the faculty working in the above areas were invited to join in this symposium to allow contacts to be made between faculty members in the United States and their counterparts in Japan . In addition, key industrial research personnel from both countries were invited to ensure that the symposium has industrial relevance. Prof. T. Fuwa, Professor Emeritus of Tohoku University and Prof. Z. Fuwa, Prof. Emeritus of Osaka University, were distinguished invitee's who actively participated in the conference.

From the United States, the following University personnel were in attendance: and the following industrial personnel were invited:

The Japanese academic attendees included : The official industrial attendees from Japan included: Observers to the meeting were: