Real-time In-line Microstructural Engineering (RIME)

Steel continues to be the most used material in the world by value and play an essential role in all aspects of society, from construction to transport, energy generation to food production. The long-term sustainability of UK steel making requires lower energy production and the development of high value steel products. The ability to measure the microstructure of steel in a non-contact, non-destructive fashion can lead to dramatic improvement in the understanding of the material and its behaviour during processing and in-service. Improved control during processing will increase efficiency in production of complex steel microstructures and allow new generation alloys to be made. Through our previous EPSRC and industry funded research we have created a new electromagnetic (EM) measurement system, EMspecTM, that can monitor the microstructure of strip steel during hot processing. This system is now providing information related to the condition (transformed phase fraction) of the microstructure over 100% of the strip length. The scene is now set to make the next major step forward with the information that new in-line microstructure measurement systems can offer - proposed real-time in-line microstructural engineering, or 'RIME' technology.
Our ambition is to enable real-time microstructure engineering during processing via dynamic control of cooling strategies or heat treatment using EM sensor feedback, in particular to engineer microstructures that were previously either impossible to achieve in full scale production or could not be reliably achieved. This will require detailed knowledge of the full temperature - magnetic - microstructure parameter space and sensors that are capable of operating in elevated temperature environments (such as heat treatment facilities), which are not currently available outside the laboratory. In addition application to a wide range of product lines, from strip to plate or sections requires integration of through thickness cooling models and EM signal-depth interpretation all mapped for varying temperature and phase fraction. In this project we will develop new sensors that can operate at high temperature; both laboratory systems to determine full magnetic properties with temperature for model and commercial steels, essential information that is currently unavailable in the literature, and robust deployable sensors for trials in industrial conditions; and systems designed to interrogate for through thickness data. We will develop a demonstration facility, consisting of a furnace, run out table with cooling sprays and EMspecTM system, to allow dynamic feedback control of cooling schedules from EM sensor signals to engineer specific microstructures. Alongside the hardware and demonstration activities we will also develop modelling capabilities, both for sensor design and signal interpretation: our current models are used to relate sensor signals to microstructure (phase fraction and grain size at room temperature) with incorporation of temperature effects planned in this project. A number of case studies have been identified to trial the new technologies including advanced high strength strip steels (AHSS) for light-weighting of vehicles, high strength - high toughness pipeline steels for demanding environments, high strength, more uniform, constructional steels and tailoring microstructure in rod.

This project aims to develop electromagnetic sensing technology to allow real-time in-line microstructural engineering for steels to give increased efficiency processing and enable production of new advanced high strength strip (AHSS) steel grades. The main benefits from the work will be:
Energy and Carbon footprint
Feedback control from electromagnetic sensors installed on strip run-out tables, continuous annealing production lines and heat treatment facilities will allow more efficient processing reducing overall energy consumption (e.g. reduced heat treatment times, reduced downgrading of product). Production of new AHSS steels to feed into the automotive industry will help towards lightweighting of the vehicle to meet the requirements of the Kyoto protocol and beyond.

Benefits to UK Industry and Society
The chief industrial beneficiaries are steel producers; Tata Steel employs approximately 11,000 people directly in the UK and produces 4 million tonnes of steel across several UK sites using controlled cooling strategies and heat treatment where microstructural information can be feedback into process control. EM sensing technology will allow efficient production of high value grades that are not currently commercially produced, which will increase the range of steel grades offered by the UK manufacturers. It should be noted that the ability to manufacture these value added steels will also increase sales of conventional steel grades, as customers often choose suppliers that can provide complete order coverage. This will provide the UK steel industry with a competitive advantage in the international market.
A secondary beneficiary will be sensor and mill control manufacturers. The EMspecTM system was developed at Primetals Technology Limited, based in Bournemouth, in collaboration with the University of Manchester following research carried out through previous EPSRC funded programmes. The development of fundamental magnetic property-microstructure relationships in this project will increase the accuracy of signal interpretations and potentially allow for integrated systems for control of cooling via dynamic feedback. Future exploitation of any new technology developed in this work will follow the established processes at Manchester and Warwick Universities as appropriate.
A further beneficiary of this project will be the automotive industry, which will have access to a UK source for AHSS products that can be used to lightweight vehicles. The automotive sector in the UK comprises over 3000 separate companies employing over 180,000 people. The UK has the sector's 4th highest output in Europe and the 12th highest globally. The use of new AHSS in automotive parts is vital to the competitive advantage of UK car manufacturers since the EU has defined legislation to meet the requirements of the Kyoto protocol and beyond.
Educational Impact
Within the project we are training four RFs. We will involve MSc and undergraduate students in the research area through offering related projects and two PhD students will be associated with the project. In addition exposure of younger students to the research area will be achieved via outreach activities (e.g. research fellows in the group are involved in school visits).