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RESEARCH & INNOVATION
was to be held in Canada in September 2016. Zhou was to expand
on the activities of SC-MICRO by saying that it was not only
involved in research and development activities but also the
transfer of knowledge for the resolution of industrial problems,
with a deep involvement in innovative technology.
For instance, one of his research students,
Dr Ibraheem Khan at the University of Waterloo,
Canada, invented a novel technology to embed additional
memory and/or pseudo-elasticity into a single piece of
shape-memory alloy, based on work on laser welding
of NiTi alloys. Such research promised great advances
in non-welding applications such as orthodontic wires that deliver optimal
forces to each tooth individually.
28
At its 2016 annual meeting it was agreed
that the SC-MICRO become a full scale Commission VII
Microjoining and
Nanojoining
(C-VII) with a goal to identify, create, develop
and transfer best practice in the fields of microjoining
and nanojoining.
29
Some of the Select Committees established over the period
1990-2010 were focused on industrial sectors, such as Select
Committee
Air
(SC-AIR) which had its inaugural meeting in 1993
following a proposal from Prof. Konstantin Yushchenko (Ukraine)
for a new working unit on aerospace structures. The work
of this committee did not prosper greatly in the interim
but was rejuvenated in 2012 with the appointment of Prof.
Shuili Gong (China) as Chair, who was a specialist in power
beam welding processes in the aviation and aerospace
industries. The Select Committee was renamed
Permanent Joints in New Materials and
Coatings for Aircraft Engineering
. Another Select Committee focusing on
Automotive and
Road Transport
(SC-AUTO) was chaired by Prof. Dr-Ing. Michael Rethmeier (Germany)
and had a similar chequered start to that of SC-MICRO and SC-AIR, after it failed to gain
traction when it was first launched in 2002. In 2007, a new momentum emerged and SC-
AUTO was to become a continuing source of technology diffusion to the transport and
automobile industry. Soon after that a Select Committee
Shipbuilding
(SC-SHIP) chaired
by Mr Richard Boekholt (The Netherlands), was formed after previously operating as a sub-
unit of one of the other Commissions.
30
The Study Group 212
Physics of Welding
(SG-212) was formed in 1962 and led by
Prof. John Lancaster (UK) until his retirement in 1992, followed by stalwarts Prof. Gert den
Norman Zhou
Shuili Gong