STAINLESS INDIA - Indian Stainless Steel Development Association

The Role of Nickel in Stainless SteelThe Indian Institute of Metals, Delhi Chapter and the IndianStainless Steel Development Association jointlyorganized a technical talk by Dr. Peter Cutler, Director,Promotion, Nickel Institute. The talk was held onDecember 14, 2011 at the India International Centre, NewDelhi. About 50 members participated in thedeliberations.Dr Peter Cutler is a PhD in metallurgy from CambridgeUniversity, UK. He has wide industrial experience innickel alloys. He is responsible for coordinating worldwidepromotional activities of nickel-containing alloys,stainless steel constituting a significant share of his work.Mr. S C Suri, Vice Chairman, IIM DC introduced thespeaker and briefly introduced the broad aspects of thetopic of nickel in stainless steel.Mr. N C Mathur, Advisor, JSL Stainless Steel and Presidentof Indian Stainless Steel Development Association,briefed the participants regarding the present level ofglobal stainless steel production and also the currentstatus of stainless steel production in India. He alsoinformed that India is the third largest market of stainlesssteel in the world. The first two being China and theEuropean Union.Dr. Peter Cutler, Nickel InstituteDr. Cutler explained in detail about theeffect of nickel in all the phases ofaustenitic, ferritic, martensitic, duplexand precipitation hardening stainlesssteels in influencing the physical,mechanical and corrosion resistanceproperties including welding aspects.It is well known that poor toughness isthe biggest drawback of ferritic stainlesssteels. The major beneficial effect ofnickel is to increase the toughness.Increase in toughness improves yieldsduring mill production, improvesformability and enhances weldability.Dr Peter Cutler also reviewed therecycling aspects and the life cyclecosting aspects of various stainlesssteel grades.There was a lively question-answersession after the conclusion of Dr PeterCutler’s technical presentation.As a mark of appreciation for his veryinformative and stimulating presentation,a memento was handed over to Dr. Cutlerby Mr. S C Suri. Mr. Ramesh Gopal,Executive Director, Indian Stainless SteelDevelopment Association, proposed avote of thanks to all.Dr Cutler’s presentation is available inour website www.stainlessindia.org under‘What’s New’ on the homepage---STAINLESS INDIA / VOL. 16, NO.4 PAGE 7