Galvanizing Technology Committee Meeting

The technology conference covers ironmaking, steelmaking, finishing processes, and engineering and equipment technologies. Program topics include safety and health; environmental technology; cokemaking; ironmaking and direct reduced iron; electric and oxygen steelmaking; specialty alloys and foundry operations; secondary refining and continuous casting; hot and cold rolling, galvanizing, tinplate, plate and long products; pipe and tube; metallurgy; energy and utilities; electrical and digitalization applications; project and construction management; maintenance and reliability; refractory systems; material handling; cranes; and transportation and logistics. Technical topics include hydrogen-based ironmaking, scrap optimization, energy efficiency, greenhouse-gas reduction, carbon capture and storage, water treatment and reuse, AI and digitalization, predictive maintenance, industrial control-system cybersecurity, steel product quality, and process reliability. The schedule lists technical sessions, the Howe Memorial Lecture, an undergraduate student project presentation contest, a graduate student poster contest display, a Steel to Students roundtable, Technology Committee meetings, and a Town Hall Forum. The event also includes an iron and steel exposition.

The event brings together the ACerS Annual Meeting, AIST Steel Properties & Applications, the TMS Fall Meeting, and the Advanced Materials Show. Planned technical symposia cover additive manufacturing, including modeling, AI and machine learning, process control, ceramic 3D printing, and qualification and certification of computational materials tools. Other materials topics include ceramics, glass, electronic and nanostructured materials, advanced alloys, and high-temperature phase transformations. Steel and ferrous-metallurgy programming addresses alloy design, steel processing and coatings, medium- and high-manganese steels, decarbonization, scrap recyclability, and materials for transportation, defense, energy, hydrogen, carbon capture, geothermal, and nuclear applications. Energy-focused symposia cover clean hydrogen, electrochemical storage and conversion, thermal management, and alternative-energy devices, including solid-state batteries, electrolyzers, fuel cells, and thermoelectric systems. Additional planned topics include corrosion and degradation in extreme environments, nuclear materials and waste-storage forms, and materials for advanced manufacturing. The co-located Advanced Materials Show focuses on high-performing materials technology and the materials manufacturing supply chain.

The conference covers brazing and soldering research, development, and applications through plenary lectures, demonstrations, exhibits, and multiple tracks of presentations. Topics include aerospace, automotive and structural applications; corrosion of brazed joints; materials and process design and control; solder joining methods; filler-metal properties; mining and heavy equipment; furnace brazing; emerging technologies; joining ceramics, composites, lightweight materials, and refractory metals; and testing and inspection of brazed and soldered joints. The published program includes sessions on brazing ceramics, high-entropy and active filler metals, gas-turbine engines, stainless steels, cemented carbides, filler-metal and solder properties, brazing fluxes and chemical interactions, heat exchangers, properties of brazed and soldered joints, and processes and materials. C3 Committee meetings are also scheduled.

The technical program includes a joint AeroMat symposium on advanced coatings for aerospace and industrial gas turbines, including thermal and environmental barrier coatings, turbine clearance control, load-bearing and tribological coatings, component repair, and cold spray for aerospace applications. Research and development topics include AI and machine learning for materials and process informatics; modeling and simulation; carbon neutrality, environmental impacts, and life-cycle analysis; characterization methods; cold-spray fundamentals and particle impact; aerosol deposition; novel coatings and feedstock materials; and hybrid, laser, and additive manufacturing processes. Application areas include automotive and medical uses; battery and sustainable-energy applications; electronics and semiconductor manufacturing equipment; thermal-spray additive manufacturing; equipment, powders, consumables, and economics; circular-economy repair and remanufacturing; and wear and corrosion protection across energy, oil and gas, marine, manufacturing, construction, and food processing. The conference also includes oral and poster presentations, panel discussions, keynote presentations, and an industrial forum. The co-located exposition features thermal-spray equipment, advanced surface solutions, additive manufacturing technologies, consumables, and applied research.

The technical program is planned to include keynote presentations, technical sessions, panel discussions, special-topic sessions, and hands-on workshops. Topics include heat-treating technologies, process control, materials performance, emerging innovations, applied research, case studies, process improvements, and practical solutions to manufacturing and operational challenges. Heat Treat is co-located with IMAT, the Residual Stress Technology Conference (RSTC), and the North American Cold Spray Conference (NACSC).

The conference objective is to enhance the value of participation in AIST activities and provide resources to help attendees grow as leaders in the association and the steel industry. Program topics include a North American steel update, economic perspectives, AIST strategic plan and program updates, and a rapid-fire discussion for questions, comments, and concerns. Leadership sessions address leading through uncertainty using neuroscience, psychology, and practical leadership strategies. A session on applying AI across a steel business addresses finance, supply chain, HR, and sales; data privacy and protecting proprietary know-how; AI adoption examples; identifying which data is safe to use with which tools; and preparing an implementation plan for IT. The event is invitation-only and open to Member Chapter officers, Technology Committee officers, Board of Director members, Board standing committee officers, and AIST Foundation Board of Trustees.

The program combines technical and management sessions, exhibits, and presentations for foundry professionals, suppliers, casting designers, buyers, and OEM representatives. Topics include additive manufacturing, casting design and purchasing, engineering, environmental health and safety, ferrous and nonferrous alloys, Industry 4.0, marketing and sales, melting, molding, pouring, quality control, workforce development, and casting case studies, reshoring, material selection, and casting quality. The program also includes the Hoyt Memorial Lecture on integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) and artificial intelligence for sustainable metalcasting. Its themes include alloy design, process innovation, digital manufacturing, workforce development, and using physics-based ICME with AI and machine learning to improve casting development, manufacturing processes, and prediction of microstructure, defects, and mechanical properties.

The meeting focuses on thermal spray applications in aerospace, coating technologies, materials performance, sustainability initiatives, powder recovery, and advances in coating applications. The program addresses tungsten and yttrium supply challenges, including the effects of export controls, geopolitical tensions, and concentrated supply. It also covers domestic supply-chain development and technologies that reduce or eliminate reliance on those materials. Technical presentations address thermal spray industry innovations, corrosion-resistant coatings for oil refineries, cold-spray repair for aerospace and defense, coating characterization, gas-turbine component repair, and pre-alloyed carbide alternatives. A panel considers future thermal-spray materials and processes.

The program includes keynotes, panels, breakouts, and interactive roundtables on steel-industry conditions; fabrication businesses, leadership, and industry outlook; AI and digitization in manufacturing; shop-floor equipment use cases and return on investment; and manufacturing’s economic and financial outlook. Sessions also address profitability, capital investment, business growth, tariffs, steel, leadership development, recruitment, small- and midsize-manufacturer growth, and potential changes to tax policy, OSHA and EPA regulations, and tariffs. Roundtable topics include culture, marketing, AI, and operations.