Sandvik’s Wilhelm Haglund Medal for the product developer of the year’ in 2017 has been awarded to Roger Berglund, Bo Jönsson, Thomas Lewin and Krister Wickman from Sandvik Materials Technology for the development of materials that can cope with extreme temperatures.
The team developed two materials, Kanthal APM and Kanthal APMT, which resulted in the development of new products and applications.
Conventional materials can have excellent oxidization resistance, but a relatively low high-temperature strength, which limits applications in designs with low mechanical load. By using a powder-metallurgical process, the team discovered a method to add billions of small particles to the metal, which can dramatically increase the strength at high temperatures. The combination of characteristics in the new material is therefore completely unique and revolutionary.
Demanding applications
The material can help enable substantially increased productivity for customers, while helping to dramatically reduce energy consumption. It can be used in heating systems in industrial furnaces, and other demanding applications.
‘The material enables substantially increased productivity for customers, at the same time as helping to dramatically reduce energy consumption. It also reduces maintenance costs and contributes to enhanced safety and a better environment,’ claimed Jönsson.
This story is reprinted from material from Sandvik, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
