This issue of Ironmaking and Steelmaking also incorporates Steel World. We have some interesting topics starting with the paper by Dr Hiroshi Tomono of Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corporation.
Dr Hiroshi Tomono was the winner of the 2014 Bessemer Gold Medal, and his paper on the development of continuous casting in Japan is based on his award presentation lecture in London last year. His starting point is Bessemer's invention of strip casting, and then he examines the differences between Bessemer's continuous casting machine and those of the present day, outlining the considerable progress made in cast product quality and machine productivity and versatility in the range of products cast.
The second article, from Dr Michael Ward of the Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) in Glasgow, UK, describes the advanced industrial scale research of this centre in high value metal forming and forging. The AFRC is one of the UK's High Value Manufacturing Catapults. Forming and forging have been at the heart of the manufacturing from the earliest days of industrialisation, and forging processes inherently still represent the most assured means of delivering favourable microstructure and therefore favourable properties. The AFRC has been established to operate in the mid-range of technology readiness levels – developing processes and running manufacturing trials on full sized industrial equipment. He illustrates this with a number of examples.
The next two articles are on two topics requested in our readership survey. Professors Harry Bhadeshia of Cambridge University and Dong-Woo Suh of POSTECH, Republic of Korea, have responded to the question ‘Is a low-phosphorus content in steel a product requirement?’ Phosphorus can embrittle steel so they attempt, using published literature, to assess the amount of phosphorus that might be present in the steels without making them susceptible to grain boundary embrittlement. They develop a criterion that enables a simple assessment to be made of the tendency to embrittle as a function of yield strength and the fraction of grain boundary sites that are covered by phosphorus. The strength of the steel is the largest factor of importance in determining the tolerable level of phosphorus. Phosphorus is, in general, to be avoided in strong steels but can be tolerated in larger concentrations in low-strength steels.
The final article deals with accelerated cooling of plates by Joseph Lee, Sandip Samanta and Mick Steeper of Primetals Technologies Ltd. The various cooling options and their strengths, weaknesses and operation are described [Primetals Technologies Ltd is a new joint-venture company between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) a nd Siemens, forming a provider of plants, products and services for the iron, steel and non-ferrous industries].
Finally, I want to announce some editorial changes. Vince Ludlow, assistant editor since January 2010, retired in January this year. I want to thank him for his very valuable contribution to the journal's editorial management and specifically for his expertise in casting and related technologies. Vince is replaced by Dr Norrie McPherson. Dr McPherson has worked in steel manufacturing and development of steel plant refractories and as a welding engineering manager in a major shipbuilding company from which he retired in late 2014. He will bring a wealth of expertise across a range of metallurgical areas.