IIW History 1990-2015

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 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 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 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

RESEARCH & INNOVATION