EPMA Newsletter June 2024

Dear Readers,  

Welcome to the latest edition of our newsletter, where we bring you the freshest updates and insights from EPMA as we embark on another quarter.  

In the pages ahead, you’ll find a rich tapestry of news, updates, and reflections on our activities. From the bustling streets of Brussels, where our General Assembly convened, to the vibrant city of Malmö, where preparations for our upcoming Congress and Exhibition event are well underway, we’ve been busy shaping the future of your association.  

Our General Assembly in Brussels was a testament to the strength of our community, with insightful presentations on EPMA statistics, keynote speeches and a comprehensive overview of our activities. 

As we gear up for the Congress in Malmö, we’re excited to introduce new features like Micro Stands in the exhibition, a dedicated session on “Women in PM”, expanded opportunities for Young Engineers to engage and learn. The technical sessions, Special Interest Seminars, Industry corners, campfires, all the time dedicated to networking like welcome reception, congress dinner and all breaks will ensure a rich and rewarding experience for all attendees. For companies seeking increased visibility, sponsorship opportunities are still available. 

Our commitment to knowledge-sharing and innovation was on full display during our seminars, with topics like “PM for Nuclear Applications” and “Innovations in AM materials”. Looking ahead to 2025, we’re planning seminars on aerospace and medical, and we invite companies interested in speaking opportunities to reach out to our technical team.  

I’m also thrilled to announce that EPMA will be coordinating another European project. The upcoming REPTiS project, slated to begin in October 2024, underscores our dedication to driving progress and collaboration. As we expand our team to support these endeavors, we’re on the lookout for a talented technical assistant to join us. If you know any young person who could fit in the position, please contact us. 

Finally, I want to express my gratitude to each and every one of you for your continuous support. It’s your passion, dedication, and expertise that drive our shared success.  

I look forward to seeing you in Malmö this October, where we’ll come together to celebrate our achievements, forge new connections, and chart the course for the future of the PM Industry  

Warm regards, 

Lionel Aboussouan

EPMA Executive Director

The Euro PM2024 Congress & Exhibition will take place from 29 September to 02 October 2024 at Malmömässan, in Malmö, Sweden.  

Malmö is the third-largest city in Sweden, located in the southern part of the country, across the Öresund straight from Copenhagen, Denmark. Known for its vibrant cultural scene, stunning architecture, and diverse population, Malmö offers a unique blend of modernity and history. Malmö is also recognized for its sustainable urban development initiatives and is often cited as an example of a green city. With its rich cultural heritage, thriving culinary scene, and dynamic atmosphere, Malmö is a popular destination for tourists and residents alike. 

The Euro PM2024 Congress & Exhibition will be held at MalmöMässan, a modern event centre, easily reachable from the city centre. The railway station is 3 minutes away from the centre and from there Copenhagen Airport can be reached in 12 minutes. 

Euro PM2024 – Technical Programme 

This year we received a total of 254 abstracts. The very high-quality of the submitted papers allowed the TPC members to create a high number of sessions (50 sessions on 3 days) and a wide range of topics within powder metallurgy are represented.   

The technical programme will be enhanced by 11 Special Interest Seminars and 6 Sectoral meetings. Full details of the programme can be found here.

The Euro PM2024 plenary session will be held on Monday 30 September morning, with the participation of EPMA’s president Mr Ralf Carlström, who will present an “Overview of the status and trends in the European PM Industry” and two plenary speakers, Mrs Annika Roos (Jernkontoret) with a presentation on “Steel and metal powder in the Swedish transition – past, present and future” and Dr Henrik Karlsson (Volvo group) with his presentation “The journey towards sustainability. How can powder technology support the green transformation?”  

The plenary session will also welcome the winner of the thesis competition who, in addition to be invited to the Congress, will make a short presentation about his work. The plenary session will also offer the opportunity to recognize the winners of the DSA and Fellowship awards as well as the 2024 Keynote paper Awards. 

This year, the PM Component Awards are back, 13 components were presented in 3 categories. Discover the winners during the plenary session!  

The second edition of the EPMA Sustainability Award will also feature in the session, and the winner will be announced and awarded on stage.

In addition to the usual Industry corners and campfire meetings held in the exhibition hall, this year in Malmö you will also have the opportunity to attend a “PM for beginners” lecture given by Dr Vlad Kruzhanov, open to all participants on Tuesday 01 October. 

Find out more on our website.

Euro PM2024 Exhibition   

The Euro PM2024 Exhibition, held from Monday to Wednesday, will take place alongside the Congress. With exhibition sales already open, EPMA welcomes enquiries to fill the remaining space in the 5000m2 Exhibition Hall. Those looking to join the Exhibition are encouraged to do so as soon as possible, as premium spaces are limited.

Located within the conference centre, with an easy access to the Technical Sessions, delegate lunches and refreshment facilities, the Euro PM2024 Exhibition will be the ideal location for positive and profitable delegate and exhibitor integration. 

New features for 2024 include the Sweden Pavilion, an area dedicated to showcasing Sweden’s PM industry, and the New at Euro PM Exhibition Stands – smaller, one desk stands available at lower rates for those new to Euro PM. More details on these areas can be found here.

Further information on this year’s event, including a current exhibition floor plan, or to sign up to join the Euro PM2024 Mailing List, to receive Euro PM2024 Congress & Exhibition Updates can all be found at www.europm2024.com 

EPMA’s 37th General Assembly took place in Brussels, Belgium, on May 16, 2024. EPMA’s General Assembly is the annual opportunity for members to keep updated with all the EPMA’s activities from the past year and the next one, including the benefit to listen and discuss with some keynote speakers as well as helping EPMA fulfilling its legal obligations of General Assembly. The meeting was hybrid and allowed those who did not wish to travel the possibility to connect and present and follow the presentations online.  

After the usual overview of the year’s PM trends and statistics by EPMA’s President, Mr Ralf Carlström, Mr Lionel Aboussouan, Executive Director, presented EPMA’s various activities and membership movement over the past year. The General Assembly then went on with various presentations from past and ongoing work done since 2023; the EuroPM congress 2024 project and future congresses were presented by Mrs Delphine Nicolas (replacing Mrs Sabine Hazoume), Mr Andy Cormack presented the various sponsorship opportunities for EuroPM2024, then Mr Romain Rayez gave an update on the Communication and Marketing activities, and finally, EPMA Technical Managers, Mr Bruno Vicenzi and Mr Kenan Boz (attending an exhibition, here replaced by Mr Bruno Vicenzi), presented the various ongoing European projects & working groups, as well as an overview of the different Sectoral Groups activities over 2023/2024, which was then given in more details by each Chairman of the groups; Cesar Molins for Press&Sinter, Bruno Vicenzi (replacing George Breitenmoser) for Metal Injection Moulding, Peter Kjeldsteen for Functional Materials, Steven Moseley for Hard Materials, Adeline Riou for Additive Manufacturing and Bruno Vicenzi (replacing Kenan Boz in the absence of HIP Chair Jim Shipley) for Hot Isostatic Pressing. Prof Dr Thomas Weissgärber concluded the General Assembly by giving a report on the EPMI activities. 

6 keynote speakers delivered the following presentations in the afternoon: 

• Eurometaux – the year of change ahead – Mr Chris Heron (Eurometaux) 
• Eurometaux – how do we see 2024 and after? –  Mrs Kamila Slupek (Eurometaux) 
• Overview of the R&I activities in CLEPA focusing en EU projects – Mr David Storer  
• Industrial Mechanical Alloying for Advanced Materials in the START Project – Ms Serena Busatto (MBN Nanomaterialia)
• Presentation of the RESQTOOL Project – Dr José Manuel Sanchez Moreno (CEIT)
• European Ceramic Association – Mrs Aurore Berthier 

Modelling of Induction Hardening  

As mentioned in the report from the EuroPress&Sinter Sectoral Group, RWTH Aachen presented there a proposal for a new Club Project, named InducSim, that could be rather interesting for Press&Sinter producers, but also for powder makers and equipment manufacturers, focused on modelling of the Induction Hardening process. If you are interested and would like to have more details, please contact Bruno Vicenzi at bv@epma.com. 

HUM-FLOW 

The Club project HUM-FLOW organized by Sectoral group of Additive Manufacturing EuroAM had its final meeting on 24th of April at EPMA’s office in Chantilly. The project was contracted by Fraunhofer IFAM in Bremen. The project aimed at getting a better understanding of the correlation between particle size, particle morphology, specific surface area, alloy composition and the adsorption of water in metal powders when exposed to different air humidity levels. 

START is making progress towards new thermoelectric devices 

The Horizon Europe project START continues its work on creating thermoelectric materials from mine waste minerals, specifically sulphides like tetrahedrites. These materials are intended for use in waste heat recovery devices. New findings on the developed materials are already showing good potential. The EPMA is heavily involved in spreading the project’s results, and developing new materials and events related to the project.

A new issue of the “RECOVER-REFORM-REUSE” newsletter, the 4^th issue, has been published, and we encourage you to go to the website and download it for free. If you have missed any previous issues, you can find them all there as well.

Our 4^th free webinar, held on 14^th March, focused on the powder metallurgical processing of thermoelectric materials, and their assessment. The presenters were Serena Busatto (MBN Nanomaterialia), Damian Karpowicz (GeniCore) and Patricia Almeida Carvalho (SINTEF).

“Our 5th webinar just took place during the Annual Meeting of the project consortium at SINTEF’s premises in Oslo, on 7th June. It was dedicated to the topic “Thermoelectric Devices and Applications”, with three speakers: Maarten Den Heijer (RGS Development), Hao Yin (TEGnology) and Jean-Yves Escabasse (CEA-Liten and STARTS’ Scientific Advisory Board).

START effectively liaised with the EraNet project THERMOS led by TU Dresden and including IFAM Dresden. A meeting was held in IFW Dresden on 11^th April and that set the path for a very fruitful cooperation. The first example should be an industrial workshop on Applications of Thermoelectrics that will be held in Copenhagen just before Euro PM2024, on Thursday 26^th September. More details will be available during next weeks, so please keep in touch.

If you are interested in the project, check out its website www.START-HEproject.com, and find out more; you can follow also on X, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc. Subscribing to the mailing list on the website will allow to directly receive news about the project, and in particular the newsletter.

RESQTOOL Partners Meet In Italy For The Kick-Off Meeting

RESQTOOL Partners came together for the second Transnational (TM2) meeting of Resqtool. The meeting was hosted by FILMS in Domodossola, Italy. The project progress and the next steps have been discussed in detail for two days on 28-29 May. The next presential Transnational meeting (TM3) of the project will be held in San Sebastian, Spain on the dates of 8-9 January 2025, hosted by CEIT.

REPTiS

REPTiS is an EU project on responsible extraction and processing of Titanium and other primary raw materials for sourcing EU Industrial Value Chains and Strategic Sectors. The proposal was submitted on 7^th of February and accepted by the Commission to get a grant on 22^nd of May. The project will be coordinated by EPMA with a budget of 7.5 million Euros .The project consortium consists of 13 partners from Industry and Academia of various EU countries and Ukraine.

EPMA for new projects 

EPMA ‘s technical managers are always actively working for next rounds of calls for European projects, like Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, and others. If you are planning to organize proposals for funding on a topic, EPMA can surely be your partner for Dissemination, Coordination, and more. Do not hesitate to contact our technical managers Kenan Boz (kboz@epma.com) and Bruno Vicenzi (bv@epma.com). 

EuroAM

EuroAM organized a seminar together with Fraunhofer IGCV in Augsburg Germany on the dates of 4-5 June 2024. The main topic was “Innovations in AM Materials”. 18 presentations have been realized on various topics such as multi-material AM, Applications, Emerging Technologies and materials. There was a site visit to MT Aerospace, one of the main manufacturers and test components for institutional and commercial launch vehicle programs, for aircraft, satellites and for applications in the automotive and defense industries.

EuroFM  

The Steering Committee of the Functional Materials group has prepared two Special Interest Seminars to be held at Euro PM2024 in Malmö:

• Initiatives on Hard Magnets for the Future
• Biomedical Functional Materials

The first topic is very hot as permanent magnets have a crucial role in the Green Transition, for mobility, energy and other applications; the second is even more tightly connected to quality of life issues, and the materials functions that make them compatible for medical applications are quite interesting.

EuroFM is looking for case studies to include them in a second edition of the “Introduction to Functional Materials“ booklet (foreseen for 2025). Feel free to contact EPMA to propose parts for that section of the document.

EuroHIP

EuroHIP organized a seminar with the support of other sectoral groups in the field of Energy. The energy seminar was hosted by University of Burgundy in Le Creusot, France. The Seminar’s specific subject is the use of HIP and other PM technologies in Nuclear Energy. Experts from the field have given 11 interesting presentations. The event also covered a very special site visit to Alstom production facilities of Bogies of subway and long distance trains, as well as city trams.

EuroMIM 

EuroMIM’s Steering Committee changed the Special Interest Seminars that it was trying to organise for the Congress Euro PM2024 in Sweden. Instead of two different topics, the topic of the two sessions has been unified in a single title “Advances in MIM Materials and Processes”.

The Trend, Statistics and Benchmarking survey about the status and outlook of the European MIM industry has been completed, and results distributed to participants. The participation was in line with last year. Some results have been given during the EPMA General Assembly on 16^th May.

EuroPress&Sinter 

The efforts of the EuroPress&Sinter Steering Committee for the organisation of the Special Interest Seminars at the Euro PM2024 congress were partly unfruitful, so only a session “Challenges and Advantages of Uniaxially Pressed Parts” will be there.

The idea of a Club Project among EPMA members on modelling of Induction Hardening, InducSim, was presented in Euro PM2023 by RWTH Aachen, is still open to expressions of interest. If you are also interested, please contact Bruno Vicenzi at bv@epma.com.

The Statistics surveys on powders and parts, and the Trend survey for parts, had a slightly lower participation this year, despite some more encouraging results. A few data were shown in the EPMA General Assembly carried out on 16^th May. The Benchmarking exercise will be launched in the next weeks and all member companies producing pressed and sintered parts are encouraged to take part.

Young Engineers Day

EURO PM2023 Congress & Exhibition in Lisbon Portugal on Tuesday 3rd October 2023.

Introduced 10 years ago in 2014, the Young Engineers Days event is run by EPMA as part of our commitment to help foster and develop the next generation of PM academics and industrialists. This two-day event helps to raise awareness and interest in Powder Metallurgy (PM) careers amongst young engineers. Sponsored by HILTI group and open to 50 students, Young Engineers Days is a free-to-attend event for participants studying subjects related to PM, such as Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Engineering, and Business Administration & Engineering. Young Engineers Days 2024 will take place on 30 September & 1st October 2024, at Malmömässan, in Malmö, Sweden during the Euro PM2024 Congress & Exhibition. This year, the Young Engineers will have the opportunity to register to an optional additional day in order to attend some sessions of the Congress. Registration and information can be found on Young Engineers Days – Website (epma.com) 

Euro PM2024 Technical Programme Now Available!