Collaboration with metal industry earns McGillians top research grant
McGill Metals Processing Centre awarded $200,000 Leo Derikx
award
The McGill Metals Processing Centre (MMPC) was recognized last
night for its special and long lasting contribution to Canadian
industrial innovation. Director Roderick Guthrie and Research
Manager Mihaiela Isac received the Natural Sciences and Engineering
Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Leo Derikx Award at a ceremony
in Montreal.
“I’ve been here for 40 years, and started working with industry
long before it was the thing to do, so it’s very appropriate that
the government would see fit to confer this award to the MMPC,” Dr.
Guthrie said.
The Leo Derikx Award is given in recognition of “an established
innovative model of long-standing university-industry partnership
in pre-competitive R&D that has improved the general well-being
of an industry,” and is one of four Synergy Awards that NSERC
confers to universities and industry partners.
“The MMPC’s ability to attract world class collaboration with
industry is in itself proof of the value of the research led by
Drs. Guthrie and Isac,” said Dr. Rima Rozen, Interim Vice-Principal
(Research and International Relations). “I am thrilled that the
Government of Canada has chosen to confirm the special role this of
centre through this award.”
“Investing in science, technology and innovation spurs Canada’s
competitiveness and enhances our leadership on the world stage,”
said Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement. “Our government is
proud to support the winners of the Synergy Awards as they drive
our economy forward and bring the best of Canadian innovation to
the world.”Â
Dr. Suzanne Fortier, President of NSERC said, "The strategic
investments that NSERC has made over the years have led to numerous
successful collaborations such as the one we are recognizing today.
The Synergy Awards highlight partnerships that bring together the
best researchers from Canadian universities and the leading
innovators from the private sector, resulting in the transfer of
tangible research results to those who can translate them into
economic and social benefits for Canadians."
Working with over 20 global industry leaders, the MMPC has driven
innovation in this field for a number of decades and has become the
go-to facility for international metal processing companies looking
to improve the quality of their products. Companies such as Hatch,
Novelis, Heraeus Electro-Nite, Sumitomo Metals Industries, and Rio
Tinto collaborate with researchers at the MMPC’s state-of-the-art
facilities. They focus on advancing the sustainable processing,
production and characterization of advanced materials used by the
ferrous and light metals industries.
“One of the big achievements was developing a sensor for liquid
metals that could measure metal quality. That was a 20-year effort
– five years to get it right for aluminum, and then 15 making it
work for liquid steel,” Dr Guthrie said. “We now have equipment in
aluminum smelters around the world evaluating the quality of their
aluminum, which is extremely important for products like aluminum
cans – if there is even a microscopic imperfection, it can split
the wall during can-making operations. So, it was critical for
Alcan to get that inclusion-sensor working. The same story goes for
steel-making – the Japanese are the leaders in steel-making, and
we’ve had an excellent collaboration with Sumitomo and Heraeus in
developing this technique for liquid steel.”
The MMPC still has its sights set firmly on the future. The Centre
possesses one of the two pilot-scale horizontal single belt casters
in the world, with a view to revolutionizing the casting of sheet
metal over the next decade. “We can thank Dr Isac for all her
efforts in designing the continuous casting facility at McGill. On
this innovative pilot-scale equipment, we are working on the
fundamentals of how to cast one-inch thick hot steel sheet at a
rate of one metre a second – sixty times faster than current
operations – so that’s our next big push,” Dr Guthrie said.