Welcome to the 2010 Spring Meeting
The meeting is scheduled to be held at Universal Stainless & Alloy Products in the Spring of 2010. There is no cost to members, non-member companies is $500. Exact dates and agenda to follow.
Our Mission
- To provide a forum for the exchange of information between ingot producers, suppliers of materials, and technical experts
- To apply this information to improve fundamental understanding, optimize process, and solve pratical problems of interest to the participating companies
Ingot Metallurgy Forum Overview
The Ingot Metallurgy Forum, Inc. or IMF is a non-profit international organization comprised of member companies involved in the production of high quality steel ingots. IMF member includes steel ingot producers, suppliers of materials for ingot production and technical experts from industry and academia. The IMF provides member companies the opportunity to share information and identify common ground for further technical exchange and development in an effort to improve the quality and cost of ingot cast steel.
The IMF evolved from an annual, industry-wide meeting on ingot making called the Ingot Metallurgy Symposium, which began in 1987. This one-day symposium was created so that the people involved in producing steel and alloy ingots could learn and discuss technical aspects of the metallurgy of ingot making. Since ingot production is largely ignored at the national steel making conferences, a need was identified to provide a forum for technical discussions on this topic for many who will continue to produce ingots for a long time.
A group at the University of Pittsburgh created the Ingot Metallurgy Symposium. Participants and the annual symposia decided that they would like to meet more often than once per year and from that decision, the IMF was created.
The IMF has approximately 25 member companies who pay annual dues of $1000. This entitles two (2) company representatives to attend two meetings per year. The Spring and Fall meetings have an educational day where technical experts from industry and university professors are invited to lecture on topics of interest such as segregation, solidification, hydrogen, inclusions and other topics. The second day of the meeting includes a tour of a member company's facility.
Each meeting of the IMF involves an open discussion of technical and operating issues that are challenging to some of the members in the production of ingots. These round table discussions are the highlight of each meeting since members openly discuss operating practices and technical analyses to help each other solve problems. Members routinely call each other between meetings.
One phone call to a fellow member can often solve an ingot making problem. The knowledge and experience gathered from the IMF can help promote career advancement.