The 8th Ultra-Steel Workshop was held on July 21 and 22, 2004 at the Tsukuba International Congress Center. 267 participants from 12 countries came to this workshop from the early morning hours in the midst of record breaking high temperatures which occurred during those days in the eastern part of Japan. This year only 2 parallel sessions were scheduled so that the participants could attend the sessions of their choice as much as possible. In addition, each participant paid a 3000 yen participation fee this year to cover the expenses for materials.

The plenary sessions with the theme of “International Trends in Steel Research and Technology” reported the results of steel projects that are being conducted in both Korea and Japan and the research network that is aiming towards usable materials. This workshop also decided to incorporate lectures from the technological fields surrounding materials. Professor de Meester gave a talk on the importance of a close collaboration between weldability and materials development.

The theme of this year’s workshop was “Proposal of New Constructions with Ultra-Steel”. At the technical sessions, interdisciplinary discussions were held on the new structural designs for ultra-steels and the specific mechanical properties to materials that are being demanded by the people from the civil engineering and the architectural engineering fields. There was a suggestion towards realizing a new structural system for ultra-steels at one of the sessions. An actual design was proposed which helped to clarify the properties that are necessary for materials and resulted in an extremely worthwhile discussion session. These sessions were held in conjunction with the Japanese Society of Steel Construction, and we would like to express our deepest appreciation to everyone there for their support. The participants at the other technical session on the welding of ultrafine grained and high strength steels also took part in enthusiastic discussions.

A short talk presentation was established within the poster session this year to allow each presenter to give a two minute summary of his paper. The new idea received favorable remarks in that even if the talks were short, it was still possible to understand the contents of many papers. We would definitely like to continue the short talk presentations next year.

At the scientific sessions, internationally prominent researchers gave talks on interesting subjects which included advanced nanoindentation technique as a key technology for futuristic steels, advanced solidification processes for recycled materials, and advanced heat resistant materials for USC plants exceeding 650℃. A wide range of discussions took place ranging from highly specialized ones to those on international technological trends.

There was an enjoyable attraction at the banquet in the evening on the first day of the workshop. A horn player gave us a performance. Can you recognize the mouthpiece which is shining in the photograph on the right? This mouthpiece was built using the Ni-free high nitrogen stainless steel, which was developed at our center and is gentle to the body. It is the preliminary version of our sample product. According to the horn player, Mr. Hajime Hama, “This mouthpiece produced a clearer sound than my brass mouthpiece, and I liked it very much”. We hope that there will be many more entertaining events like these in the future.

The Ultra-Steel workshops provide a place to have interdisciplinary discussions with people who excel beyond various specialized fields. The next workshop is being planned for July 22 and 23, 2005. We hope that you will attend and participate in the discussions at the workshop next year.

(Chairman of the Ultra-Steel Workshop Executive Committee, Susumu Tsukamoto)