Impol is again among the best innovators in the Podravje region
At the end of September, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Štajerska region gave out awards for the best innovations. Rewards were given out to 118 innovators who applied for 27 innovations. Impol applied for three innovations and all of them received awards. We received two silver and one bronze award.
The Impol Group supports and encourages innovation activities with which it builds its competitive advantage on a challenging market of aluminium products.
Description of individual projects
Silver award
The development of a laboratory-verified synthetic route for obtaining light, super-hard advanced Al-Mg-B-Ti materials
Summary: AlMgB14 falls among super-hard materials, the synthetisation of which is complex and costly in order to achieve sufficient efficiency and are very difficult to completely solidify. The innovation provides solutions in the area of synthesising sintering powder under atmospheric pressure and low-temperature sintering under atmospheric pressure, which is also a novelty. Both processes are tested in a verified laboratory.
Applicant and contributors: Impol R and D, Institute »Jožef Stefan«, Advanced Materials Research Section K-9
Innovators: Dr. Varužan Kevorkijan, Ass. Dr. Srečo Davor Škapin, Ass. Dr. Matjaž Spreitzer, Prof. Dr. Danilo Suvorov
Silver award
Development of an automated process of slag skimming for reducing aluminium loss and ensuring the reproducibility of the melt quality.
Summary: The innovation provides a solution for optimal and reproducible automated slag skimming. For an optimal position of the skimming depth, the ladle is regulated by continuously measuring the temperature gradient in the slag layer, which is carried out using thermocouples on the lower edge of the ladle. In this manner, only the layer of the slag is skimmed and not the melt, which consequently results in melt savings and a higher level of melt quality. The process is tested in a simulated operational environment.
Applicant and contributors: Impol R and D, Institute »Jožef Stefan«, Advanced Materials Research Section K-9, IMT, Institute of Metals and Technology
Innovators: Dr. Varužan Kevorkijan, Ass. Dr. Srečo Davor Škapin, Uroš Kovačec, Aleksandra Robič, Marina Jelen, Ass. Dr. Matjaž Godec, Dr. Irena Paulin
Bronze award
The advanced new technology of alloying aluminium in order to raise the quality and productivity of the manufacturing process.
Summary: The innovation’s solution is a so called wire with a coreshell structure, where the shell is made of aluminium and the core is made of compressed powder of a selected alloying element. The coreshell wire was first developed for alloying iron, and the same concept may later on also be used for adding other alloying elements. The new alloying method has numerous advantages due to its higher dissolving rate; alloying is carried out without opening the furnace, and the process may be automated, since the feeding rate of the alloying wire may be regulated.
Applicant and contributors: Impol R and D, Impol LLT, Impol PCP, IMT, Institute of Metals and Technology
Innovators: Dr. Varužan Kevorkijan, Aleksandra Robič, Marina Jelen, Uroš Kovačec, Matjaž Godec, Irena Paulin
