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RESEARCH & INNOVATION
progress of thework undertaken; whether it was research activities
and development of the latest techniques, or the dissemination of
these findings to the world at large. For instance, at the General
Assembly in Montreal in July 1990, a total of 30 documents
were recommended for publication in IIW’s authoritative journal,
Welding in the World,
on a range of research topics including
metallurgical aspects of laser welding, joining of plastics and
the application of fatigue test data to welded structures, all of
them important in their own right with respect to the latest
advances in these areas of expertise.
10
The Montreal International Conference
also had a theme that encompassed
Advances in the Welding of New
Structural Materials
, which included composites, new metallic materials
and ceramics. At the same time, an
International Congress on Joining
Research
was organised by the IIW Study Group
Welding Research Strategy
and Collaboration
(SG-RES)
which attracted 119 people.
11
This was a
clear statement of intent that research was foremost on IIW’s agenda as it
prepared itself for the technological revolution expected to take place over
the next 25 years. This became no less apparent than at the next International
Conference,
Joining/Welding 2000
, at The Hague, The Netherlands, in July
1991 when robot welding, high energy laser welding and electron beam
welding featured highly among the papers presented at the conference.
12
In 1991, Prof. Horst Cerjak (Austria) and Prof. Dr Kenneth Easterling (Sweden)
organised an International Seminar on
Numerical Analysis of Weldability
in Schloss Seggau,
a castle in the wine area close to Graz in Austria. This seminar arose from an intermediate
meeting of an informal Working Group
Mathematical Modelling of
Weld Phenomena
of Commission IX
Behaviour of Metals Subject to
Welding
(C-IX). Since then this seminar series has evolved to be a
world-leading conference in the growing field of development of
methods for the prediction of the microstructures and properties
of welds.
13
The Graz-Seggau Conference has proved to be of vital
practical and academic importance in the support of
computer modelling to help optimise welding processes
and consumables as well as the service behaviour of
welded components. Held on a biennial basis and attended
by leading experts the 12th conference is scheduled for
September 2018. The Kenneth Easterling Award for the
John Norrish
Horst Cerjak