SKF and Cambridge University set up Steel Technology Centre
21st August 2009
Source:
SKF (U.K.) Limited
SKF has signed a five year contract with Cambridge University Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy to set up the SKF University Technology Centre on Steels on campus in Cambridge. The initial contract is for five years and will pioneer research, directed by SKF, on steels and heat treatment associated with advanced bearing technology.
Dr. Alan Begg; SKF Senior Vice President of Group Technology, comments, “I am delighted to be partnering with Cambridge University in this critical strategic area for us. They are universally renowned for their expertise in the physical metallurgy of steels. And they attract the very best and brightest people who will underpin our in-house activities on steel and heat treatment, which remain absolutely key technologies for SKF”.
The objective of the cooperation will be rapidly to advance SKF’s knowledge of the physical metallurgy* of bearing steels leading to a range of new and improved products.
SKF will identify and select a number of steel technology R&D topics for the University staff to work on. It is anticipated that this will lead to a better understanding of methods of managing the detailed microstructure and ways in which this can be exploited to enhance bearing properties; also, how modifications to steel composition can enable complex operational demands to be mitigated, and how to predict performance relative to the steel and heat treatment processes used.
Leading the team at Cambridge will be Professor Harry Bhadeshia, a recognised world expert in Physical Metallurgy of steels and whose previous work has resulted in a number of novel steel compositions.
Dr. Alan Begg said, “I have known Harry for a long time and greatly admire his work. It is excellent to get the opportunity to work alongside him in this programme”.
Cambridge University sees the cooperation as an excellent opportunity to offer its researchers challenging, long term, projects that will develop and transfer technology from the laboratories to industrial products and applications in a way that is rewarding for themselves, SKF and the industrial world.
*Physical Metallurgy, in this context, is the relationship of microstructure to mechanical and physical properties developed by specific steel compositions and heat treatments
The objective of the cooperation will be rapidly to advance SKF’s knowledge of the physical metallurgy* of bearing steels leading to a range of new and improved products.
SKF will identify and select a number of steel technology R&D topics for the University staff to work on. It is anticipated that this will lead to a better understanding of methods of managing the detailed microstructure and ways in which this can be exploited to enhance bearing properties; also, how modifications to steel composition can enable complex operational demands to be mitigated, and how to predict performance relative to the steel and heat treatment processes used.
Leading the team at Cambridge will be Professor Harry Bhadeshia, a recognised world expert in Physical Metallurgy of steels and whose previous work has resulted in a number of novel steel compositions.
Dr. Alan Begg said, “I have known Harry for a long time and greatly admire his work. It is excellent to get the opportunity to work alongside him in this programme”.
Cambridge University sees the cooperation as an excellent opportunity to offer its researchers challenging, long term, projects that will develop and transfer technology from the laboratories to industrial products and applications in a way that is rewarding for themselves, SKF and the industrial world.
*Physical Metallurgy, in this context, is the relationship of microstructure to mechanical and physical properties developed by specific steel compositions and heat treatments
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