International Symposium on
ADVANCES IN STAINLESS STEELS 2007 (ISAS
2007)
April 9-11, 2007,
Convention Centre, Chennai Trade Centre, Chennai, India
An International Symposium on Advances in Stainless Steels 2007 (ISAS 2007) was organised during April 9–11, 2007 by the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM), Kalpakkam Chapter in association with Metal Sciences and Ferrous Divisions of the IIM and Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, at Convention Centre, Chennai Trade Centre Complex, Chennai. The symposium was inaugurated by Prof. E. Roos, Managing Director of MPA Stuttgart, Germany in the presence of Dr. S. Banerjee, Director, BARC, Mumbai, Dr. Baldev Raj, Director, IGCAR, Kalpakkam, Shri S.K. Jain, CMD, NPCIL, Mumbai and Dr. Sanak Misra, CEO, Mittal Steel India Ltd. on 9th April 2007. Dr. P.R. Vasudeva Rao, Co-Chairman, welcomed the invitees and delegates. Dr. K. Bhanu Sankara Rao, Convener, explained the genesis and organization of ISAS 2007. Dr. S. Banerjee, Director, BARC and Vice-President and Chairman, Metal Sciences Division of IIM delivered the presidential address. Dr. E. Roos, Managing Director, MPA, Stuttgart lighted the Kuthuvilakku. The soft copy of proceedings and Souvenir was released by Shri S.K. Jain, CMD, NPCIL, Mumbai, and the exhibition was inaugurated by Dr. Sanak Misra, CEO, Mittal Steel India Ltd., Vice President and Chairman of Ferrous Division of IIM. Dr. Baldev Raj, Director, IGCAR Kalpakkam, and immediate past president of IIM, who is bestowed with Padmashri Award by the Government of India, delivered the Plenary Address at the symposium. Dr. U. Kamachi Mudali, Co-Convener, proposed the vote of thanks. In the technical program, about 200 papers including 60 invited papers were delivered on various topics of importance including science and technology of stainless steels, manufacturing, welding, corrosion, mechanical properties, design, codes, modeling and applications of various types of stainless steels. Invited talks were delivered by experts from USA, Japan, Germany, UK, France, Sweden, Australia, Korea, Finland, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and India. An exhibition comprising 35 stalls with display of products, services, instruments, and applications dealing with stainless steels was also organized during the symposium. The symposium was generously support by industries and companies including, Jindal Stainless Limited, New Delhi, KRR Engineering Private Limited, Chennai, Larsen & Toubro Limited, Mumbai, Steel Authority of India Limited, New Delhi, Mukand Limited, Thane, Tata Steel Limited, Jamshedpur, Vividh Hi-Fab, Baroda, Star Testing Systems, Mumbai and ICON Analytical Equipment Private Limited, Chennai. Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS), DAE Mumbai, DRDO, New Delhi and AERB, Mumbai acted as co-sponsors of the Symposium.
About 400 delegates from 50 industries, 35 academic institutes and 40 research institutions participated in the symposium from 12 countries. 35 students working in the area of stainless steels, for their masters and doctoral programmes, were specially invited by providing financial assistance. The symposium covered a broad spectrum of topics spanning the entire life cycle of stainless steel - beginning from alloy design and characterisation; to engineering design, fabrication, quality assurance of components and finally in-service performance assessment, life prediction and failure analysis of materials and components, giving useful feedback for further developments for effective utilization of this class of materials. The technical programme was broadly classified under eight major themes including: Trends in alloy development and applications; Processing technology and characterization; Mechanical properties; Manufacturing technology; NDE methods; Surface modification; Corrosion and Component design, structural integrity and performance.
The eight themes were structured into 3 parallel sessions containing 10 oral sessions each, in addition to a poster session containing 54 papers. The technical presentations provided the opportunity for the delegates to appreciate the state of art R&D work ongoing, facilities available with industries for stainless steel melting, fabrication and manufacturing. The interaction among academia-industry-R&D laboratories also brought out areas where complementary expertise and facilities could be effectively utilized. The symposium also brought out case studies where the technology developed in R&D laboratories was transferred to industry for successful production of components to the stringent quality requirements. There is no doubt that ISAS 2007 would pave the way for many collaborative ventures between R&D and industry to meet future challenges.
A felicitation function was conducted on 9th April evening to honour Dr. Baldev Raj on his 60th birthday. Dr. P.R. Vasudeva Rao made the opening remarks highlighting the significant achievements and contributions of Dr. Baldev Raj. This was followed by felicitation speeches from Dr. P. K. Iyengar, Former Chairman, AEC, Dr. P. Rodriguez, Former Director, IGCAR, Dr. S. P. Mehrotra, Director, NML, Jamshedpur, Prof. B.S. Murthy, IIT-Madras, Dr. P. Barat, VECC, Kolkata, Prof. Frank Garner, USA, Prof. M. Kroening, Germany and Dr. S. Banerjee, Director, BARC. Dr. Baldev Raj and his family members participated in the cake cutting ceremony. Dr. Baldev Raj responded to the felicitation speeches at the end of the function.
The valedictory session of ISAS 2007 was conducted on 11th April evening. Dr. Farhad Tavassoli, CEA, France delivered an excellent technical talk on “Materials Data to Design”. Dr. T. Jayakumar, Convenor, Technical Committee gave a brief summary of the papers presented at the symposium. Dr. L.K. Singhal, Director, Jindal Stainless Ltd., presented awards to the winners of best technical papers. Dr. K. Bhanu Sankara Rao, Convenor of ISAS 2007 proposed vote of thanks.