Past AIST Committee Activities
Current Activities
The Metallurgy — Steelmaking & Casting Technology Committee (MSCTC) met on May 4 during AISTech 2010. The committee held introductions and reviewed the current committee status. Recently, due to the economic climate, the MSCTS has held joint meetings with other AIST Technology Committees, such as the Continuous Casting Technology Committee and the Ladle & Secondary Refining Technology Committee. They will begin to hold independent meetings once again in September 2010. An election of officers was held. Champion Chigwedu of ArcelorMittal USA accepted the position of chair, Bill Jones of U. S. Steel Granite City Works accepted the position of vice chair, and Bill Slye of Praxair Inc. accepted the position of papers chair.
The Metallurgy — Steelmaking & Casting Technology Committee (MSCTC) met on May 6, 2009, during AISTech 2009. After introductions, AIST staff announcements and a note regarding the AIST Anti-Trust Guidelines, Bill Jones, immediate past chair, opened the meeting. Officer elections were held. The current chair, Chad Cathcart of U. S. Steel Canada, was re-elected as chair; Champion Chigwedu of ArcelorMittal USA was elected vice chair; and Bill King will be papers chair. A review of the MSCTC mission statement followed, and the current wording was approved. The MSCTC then discussed their future meeting plans. The committee will discuss options for the fall during an upcoming teleconference. The winter meeting is tentatively planned for the end of February 2010 in Pittsburgh, Pa. Possible technical topics for the upcoming meetings would be steel mill start-ups, carbon footprint reduction, chemistry or temperature control, and operating continuously in a non-continuous mode.
The Metallurgy — Steelmaking and Casting Technology Committee (MSCTC) held a teleconference meeting on March 25 to update its members on committee activities. A review of the committee’s membership and the requirements for membership took place, with a note that members who had not paid their 2009 dues would be suspended from the committee. The chair received a list of the members who were to be suspended. The MSCTC then reviewed the five sessions they organized for AISTech 2009. Substitute chairs were identified as needed. A discussion was then held regarding future committee plans. The fall meeting may be a Web-based meeting if travel restrictions continue. The technical topic of the meeting would be soft reduction and gap alignment for continuous casters. The meeting may be co-located with the Continuous Casting Technology Committee. The committee would also begin development of their 2010 plans, which will be organized by the committee chair. The meeting concluded with a word of appreciation from the committee chair for everyone’s participation.
The Metallurgy — Steelmaking & Casting Technology Committee (MSCTC) met in Maumee, Ohio, on Oct. 15. The committee chair, Chad Cathcart of U. S. Steel Canada (formerly Lake Erie Steel), welcomed the committee members to the meeting and thanked them for participating. The meeting was attended by only producers, each of whom then made presentations about chemistry control in their meltshops. An open exchange of information took place. The use of the Q&A database, which is now being administrated by AIST for solving various problems and answering questions of the members, was discussed. The system is expected to be available for the next MSCTC meeting. A subcommittee reviewed the available abstracts for AISTech 2009 and chose a number of them dealing with flow, inclusions, quality and solidification. This subcommittee also started to assign chairs for each session. The next meeting was tentatively scheduled for February 2009 at Severstal Mississippi in Jackson, Miss.
The Process Technology Operating Committee (PTOC) met at AISTech 2008 on May 5. The committee chair, Les Niemi of Affival Inc., welcomed both the PTOC and AISI Metallurgy committee members to the meeting and thanked them for participating. The AIST/AISI committee integration was discussed at length, with a number of potential issues being resolved. The new committee has been named the AIST Metallurgy — Steelmaking and Casting Technology Committee (MSCTC). Its focus will be on steelmaking technology at this time, but there will be an allowance for potential expansion into ironmaking technology in the future. The AISI Q&A database will still be available for solving various problems and answering questions of the members, and producer-only meetings will still be held. Due to time constraints, it was agreed that a smaller group would hold a conference call on May 14, 2008, to review/revise the mission statement, finalize the selection of 2008–2009 officers, and work out the venue for a fall meeting with a tour. During the conference call, it was agreed that the mission statement would read, “To advance the knowledge of the science, technology and metallurgy of primary processes, and as it applies to upstream processes and products. We shall achieve these goals by providing opportunities for publication, training and technology exchange through the interaction of metals producers, equipment suppliers and academia.” The committee leadership structure will consist of a papers chair, a vice chair and a chair, with the intent of alternating between producers and suppliers. The committee presented Mr. Niemi with a plaque for his exceptional service and dedication as committee chair for 2007–2008. The next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 15–16, 2008, and will take place near the North Star/Blue Scope facility in Delta, Ohio. Look for additional information online at www.aist.org.
