EU funding for the development of a new breed of steels

Issued: Wed, 15 Sep 2010 11:27:00 BST

(Sept 2010)  Developing new lightweight yet strong steels is essential to improved fuel efficiency in vehicles.  Dr Ian MacLaren and Prof Alan Craven will be directing research in the School of Physics and Astronomy as part of a new €1.9M EU-funded collaboration.  “Precipitation in high-manganese steels” teams up 2 steel manufacturers and 5 universities in 6 EU countries.  One key feature of these steels is that they are designed to include nanoscale precipitates, which despite being so small, have vital strength and ductility.  The research will use the world-leading facilities in the Kelvin Nanocharacterisation Centre to provide vital information to the collaboration about the size, shape, chemistry and distribution of these precipitates.