The MSCTC and LSRTC met jointly 14–15 February 2023, Memphis, Tenn., USA.
Both committees participated in discussion about their sessions for AISTech, safety and industry fatalities, upcoming international study tours, and Technology Training Conferences.
After the business meeting in the morning, the group headed to Big River Steel for a tour of their facility. The next day, the two committees reconvened for a number of presentations on steel cleanliness, inclusion engineering and operational improvements while monitoring liquid steel quality.

Bill Jones (right) presented Nick Dionise (left) with a plaque of appreciation for hosting a tour of Big River Steel for the LSRTC and MSCTC.

Bill Jones (right) presented a plaque of appreciation to Randy Petty (left) for hosting the MSCTC’s tour of SSAB Iowa Inc.

The MSCTC met 25–26 October 2022, Muscatine, Iowa, USA
Thinium Natarajan, MSCTC papers chair, reviewed the abstracts that were selected by the MSCTC for AISTech 2023. The abstracts were arranged into six categories that could potentially be created into sessions. Volunteers from the members in attendance were taken to act as session chairs.
Reviews of past MSCTC conferences were conducted, which included the International Congress on the Science & Technology of Steelmaking 2022 held in Montreal, Que., Canada, on 1–4 August 2022.
Randy Petty provided an overview of SSAB Iowa Inc.’s operations and products. Following Petty’s presentation, the members toured SSAB Iowa Inc. in Montpelier, Iowa, USA. The tour included the scrap yard, meltshop, casting facility and plate mill.
Presentations:
“Multi-Scale Characterization of Additive Manufacturing Alloys,” by Roger Maddalena, Thermo Fisher Scientific.
“Effects of Tundish Furniture on Flow Pattern and Cleanliness of Steel,” by Sunday Abraham, SSAB Iowa Inc.
Bill Jones concluded the meeting by leading a roundtable discussion on questions submitted by MSCTC members prior to the meeting.

Bill Jones (left) and Sunday Abraham (right) presented  Bryan Webler (center) with the MSCTC service plaque.

The MSCTC met 16 May 2022, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
The following officers were elected:

• Chair and IQRS Chair: Bill Jones  /  U. S. Steel – Granite City Works

• Vice Chair: Sunday Abraham  /  SSAB Americas

• Papers Chair: Thinium Natarajan  /  U. S. Steel Research and Technology Center

• Membership Chair: Judy Li  /  Cleveland-Cliffs Primary Process Research

• Young Professional Chair: Bradley Anderson  /  SMS group Inc.

• Kent D. Peaslee Award Subcommittee Co-Chairs: Sunday Abraham  /  SSAB Americas, and Bill Jones  /  U. S. Steel – Granite City Works

The MSCTC and CTTC met  22–23 February 2022, Orlando, Fla., USA
The first day of the joint meeting began with both committees reviewing their sessions for AISTech 2022. They also previewed each committee’s upcoming conferences and webinars — the 4th International Congress on Steelmaking (ICS) in June 2022 and Continuous Casting — A Practical Training Seminar in October 2022. It was also determined to put the CCTC’s planned study tour of South Korea on hold until next spring.
CCTC Young Professional chair Tyler Higgins spoke about the AIST Young Professionals and Board of Directors virtual mixer, which was held 9 March 2022, and the Young Professionals’ Roundtable, which will be held at AISTech 2022 on 15 May 2022.
The group then traveled to Nucor Steel Florida Inc. for a tour of its new micro-mill.
The next day, the group reconvened for technical presentations. Eloy Martinez discussed inclusion formation and refining routes for aluminum-killed steels. Gerald Richard gave a presentation on inclusion control and understanding through comparison of computer simulation and actual water modeling of mold flow and meniscus temperatures. Xiadong Li showed the inclusion control functionality of using a tundish pipe in a refractory system. Aidan York reviewed trials with calcium practices and recovery. Lisa Bernau described the investigation and outcome from a slag in mold event. Finally, Hongbin Yin joined the group through video conference to present on
(Mn, Mg)S inclusions and their formation and effect.

Continuous Casting Technology Committee (CCTC) chair Jim Gilmore (right) and Metallurgy — Steelmaking & Casting Technology Committee (MSCTC) chair Bryan Webler (left) presented a plaque of appreciation to Heath Brown (center) for hosting a tour of Nucor Steel Florida Inc. on 23 February 2022.

The MSCTC met 4 October 2021, virtual.
MSCTC chair Bryan Webler made a few opening remarks. The committee then discussed AIST’s subcommittee on decarbonization. Ronald O’Malley informed attendees that the core effort is to organize a research funding organization at AIST for projects to decarbonize the metals industry.
The committee discussed the Steel Industry Fatalities report. The committee then did a safety share. It has become safer due to Covid-19; facilities and people are more cautious. The pandemic has forced better habits and proper planning.
AISTech session development was then discussed by papers chair Thinium Natarajan, U. S. Steel Research and Technology Center. The MSCTC currently has nine abstracts. The committee is planning on organizing two MSCTC sessions and a possible joint session with the CCTC, LSRTC or RSTC. The committee then solicited AISTech 2022 session chair volunteers. The MSCTC updated its AISTech Call for Papers text.
The Kent Peaslee Award subcommittee chairs Bill Jones and Sunday Abraham then discussed the award nomination and noted that the Inclusion Engineering and Clean Steel Commemorative Volume e-book will be updated. 
The committee then discussed upcoming Technology Training Conferences and webinars, and discussed  organizing a joint spring meeting with the CCTC.
Presentations:

• “The Opposite Segregation Behavior of Al in High-Al AHSS Steel,” by Hongbin Yin, ArcelorMittal Global R&D.

• “Use of Interfacially Active Mold Flux Dopants on Exchange Reaction Suppression for High-Al Steels,” by Ronald O’Malley, Missouri University of Science and Technology.

• “Superheat Control for Thin-Slab Casters,” by Eloy Martinez, SvMet Engineering S.A.

Bill Jones (left) presented Bryan Webler (right) with the MSCTC service plaque at AISTech 2021.

The MSCTC met 29 June 2021, Nashville, TN USA.
The following officers were elected:

• Chair: Bryan Webler, Carnegie Mellon University

• Vice Chair and IQRS Chair: Bill Jones, U. S. Steel – Granite City Works

• Papers Chair and Digital Transformation Liaison: Thinium Natarajan, U. S. Steel Research and Technology Center

• Membership Chair: Judy Li, Cleveland-Cliffs Steel LLC

• Young Professional Chair: Bradley Anderson, SMS group Inc.

The MSCTC and LSRTC held a Joint virtual meeting 18 February 2021.
The LSRTC and MSCTC’s joint meeting began with a welcome from LSRTC chair Matt Hallam and MSCTC chair Bryan Webler. After reviewing each committee’s current membership, the group went over the latest Steel Industry Fatalities Report, followed by a discussion on industry safety and COVID-19 mitigation measures.
The committees outlined their respective AISTech sessions, sought out committee officer nominations, and announced the winners of the 2021 MSCTC and LSRTC best paper awards.
Presentations:

• “Discussion on Thermo-Calc Process Metallurgy Module and TCOX Database,” by Drew Huck, Carnegie Mellon University.

• “Advances in Automated Inclusion Analysis,” by Gary Casuccio, RJ Lee Group.

• “Automated Inclusion Analysis With Desktop SEM,” by Rogier Miltenburg, Thermo Fisher Scientific.

The MSCTC held a virtual meeting 28 September 2020.
The MSCTC discussed its AISTech 2021 session development and abstracts. Papers chair Thinium Natarajan will review and select the abstracts. Several people volunteered to be session chairs. It was also noted that the AISTech 2020 Conference Proceedings are now available on AIST’s Digital Library.
The MSCTC discussed the selection process for its best paper awards.
The committee then discussed upcoming Technology Training Conferences. The ICS Conference will be held 27–29 September 2021 in Arizona. The call for abstracts will close on 15 January 2021. The organizing committee encouraged MSCTC members to submit an abstract.
Discussion then turned to the MSCTC’s webinars: the Kent D. Peaslee Memorial Webinar: Understanding Effective Inclusion Control and Metallurgy — Steelmaking & Casting: Impact of Inclusion on Mechanical Properties. These webinars, which were hosted in October, are available on AIST.org.
The MSCTC also discussed the AIST Process Benchmarker^® and Digital Transformation Subcommittee Survey questions.
Presentations:                         

• “Carpenter Technology COVID-19 Response — Sharing Best Practices,” by David Graf, Carpenter Technology.

• “Safely Managing Remote Access to Process Automation Assets During a Global Pandemic,” by David Kober, iba, and Brent Bregar, Premier Automation.

• “Steel Performance Initiative,” by Raymond Monroe, Steel Founders’ Society of America.

• “Rapid Analysis of TiN-NbC Precipitates in Steel by Automated Transmission Electron Microscope,” by Roger Maddalena, Thermo Fisher Scientific.

The MSCTC held a virtual meeting 4 May 2020.
MSCTC chair Pallava Kaushik kicked off the committee’s virtual meeting by presenting the winners of the 2020 Kent D. Peaslee Award. The award plaque will be given during AISTech 2020.
The following committee officers were elected for the 2020–2021 term:

• Chair: Bryan Webler, Carnegie Mellon University.

• Vice chair: Alyssa Briere, Stelco Inc.

• Papers chair: Thinium Natarajan, U. S. Steel Research and Technology Center.

• Membership chair: Judy Li, ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor.

• IQRS chair: Bill Jones, U. S. Steel – Granite City Works.

• Young Professional chair: Bradley Anderson, SMS group Inc.

The committee discussed the International Congress on Science & Technology in Steelmaking (ICS) conference to be held in September 2021 in Portland, Ore., USA. The ICS conference has been organized every third year. The conference covers all the stages from molten iron and steel to the casting process and also includes some further processing of products. Currently the organizing committee is working on the flyer to be distributed at AISTech 2020. The idea is to organize the MSCTC fall 2021 meeting in conjunction with the ICS conference.
Fall MSCTC meeting plans will be updated after AISTech 2020. If an in-person meeting isn’t feasible due to travel restrictions, a virtual meeting will be organized.

The MSCTC met 18 February 2020, Austin, Texas, USA.
The MSCTC finalized its AISTech 2020 technical sessions and reviewed the roles of session chair and papers chair.
Nominations were solicited for MSCTC officers for the 2020–2021 term.
Bryan Webler discussed the activities of the AIST Digital Transformation Subcommittee and Bradley Anderson gave an update on Young Professional recruitment.
The overall theme of the meeting, including the day’s presentations and the tour the following day, was additive manufacturing. The group held a discussion on the role of additive manufacturing in steel manufacturability.
The MSCTC is organizing the International Congress on Science & Technology in Steelmaking (ICSTS) in September 2021 in Portland, Ore., USA. 
Presentations:

• “Materials-Driven Applications in Additive Manufacturing,” by Ville Niemela, EOS North America.

• “Production of High-Grade Metal Powder for Additive Manufacturing by Using the Powder Atomization Plant of SMS group,” by Nick Romeo, SMS group Inc.

• “Laser Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing of Steels,” by Bryan Webler, Carnegie Mellon University.

• “DOE HPC4 Manufacturing Program,” by Wayne Miller, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

• “AM Manufacturing,” by Wayne Miller.

• “Performance of Functionally Graded Steel Structures Fabricated via Selective Laser Melting,” by Yash Parikh, Texas A&M University.

• “Automated SEM/EDS Analysis on Metal Powder for Additive Manufacturing,” by Binyam Abraham, Nanoscience Instruments Inc.

On Wednesday 19 February, the group visited EOS North America. EOS North America is a leader in high-end industrial additive manufacturing platforms.

Pallava Kaushik, MSCTC chair, and Bryan Webler, MSCTC vice chair, presented a plaque of appreciation to Ville Niemela and Adam Penna, EOS North America, for hosting the MSCTC’s tour (left to right): Niemela, Kaushik, Penna and Webler.

The MSCTC and CATC met 9–11 October 2019, Livermore, Calif.
CATC Highlights:
The CATC reviewed its AISTech technical session development. At the time of the meeting, a total of 72 papers had been submitted for the committee. This is more papers than can fit into the five sessions at 
AISTech, so the committee discussed possible joint sessions. A small group of committee members will follow up on the session development. Seven members volunteered to be session chairs in addition to the Digital Transformation Core Team members. 
The Digital Transformation Forum for the Steel Industry will be held 16–18 March 2020 at the Omni William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pa., USA. At the time of the meeting, there were more than 40 abstracts submitted. The Digital Transformation Core Team is evaluating the papers and is working on finalizing the technical program. 
The CATC’s Young Professionals (YP) chair, David Kober, touched on some of the highlights of AIST’s YP programming. A YP Steering Committee has been developed and has six members. The goal is to coordinate with AIST staff to grow YP attendance and involvement. Currently the YP Steering Committee is working on a strategy for video testimonials on YouTube, the YP spotlight in Iron & Steel Technology, university Road Shows, etc. 
MSCTC Highlights:
Thinium Natarajan reviewed the MSCTC’s AISTech 2020 technical session development. He went over the session structure and reviewed the roles of papers chair and session chair. Volunteers for session chairs were taken.
Possible joint sessions were discussed, with the goal of attracting more attendees, specifically with the Metallurgy — Processing, Products & Applications Technology Committee and the Continuous Casting Technology Committee. Discussion then focused on the Kent D. Peaslee Memorial Session. As in previous years, this session will focus on steel cleanliness and inclusion evolution with presentations and a panel discussion.
There was discussion of the AIST Road Show, and a suggestion was made to consider it for universities that have a metallurgy program.
The group briefly discussed AIST’s Young Professional Program and reviewed the list of upcoming AIST Technology Training courses.
A request was made to add safety to the meeting agenda, to be discussed at the beginning of the meeting. The MSCTC then reviewed the AIST Steel Industry Fatalities statistics and had a good discussion on the ongoing work from each plant/area/lab.
The group discussed AIST Transactions. The MSCTC supports the expansion of peer-reviewed publication opportunities. Several strategies were discussed for increasing submissions to AIST Transactions.
The committee discussed planning for its Technology Committee Awards.
The next day, both committees met at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for presentations and tours. The presentations focused on topics such as high-energy x-ray diffraction, data visualization, integrated computational materials engineering, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence and machine learning. 
 The attendees were then divided into four groups and went on two of the following four tours:

1.  Advanced Metallurgical Diagnostics: Plasma focused ion beam, environmental scanning electron microscope, small angle x-ray scattering and FEI Titan transmission electron microscope.

2.  Non-Destructive Characterization Institute: X-ray tomography and discussion of the LLNL Non-Destructive Characterization Institute.

3.  Advanced Manufacturing (AM) Lab: Collaborative lab space with industry for additive and advanced manufacturing.

4.  High-Performance Computing Facility: Video and discussion of leadership high-performance computing at LLNL, including Sierra, the second-fastest machine in the world.

The second day, the CATC and MSCTC members had a joint meeting with presentations. 

MSCTC Presentations:

•  “Classification of Non-Metallic Inclusions by Computer Vision and Machine Learning Methods,” by Bryan Webler, Carnegie Mellon University.

•  “Micro-CT and Inclusion Analysis Research at Missouri S&T,” by Ron O’Malley and Simon Lekakh, Missouri University of Science and Technology. 

CATC Presentations:

•  “Accelerating New Product Grade Development Using Machine Learning,” by Bryan Williams of Gerdau and Alp Kucukelbir of Fero Labs.

•  “Data Visualization and Data Technology, Big Data and High-Performance Computational Software (Industry 4.0),” by Jacqueline Peintinger of QuinLogic.

•  “Data Visualization and Data Technology Management,” by Shao Mei Tan of OSIsoft LLC.

Pallava Kaushik (left) and Yufeng Wang (right) presented a plaque of appreciation to Wayne Miller (center) for hosting the MSCTC’s and CATC’s tour of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

The MSCTC and the CATC met at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and watched presentations focused on high-energy x-ray diffraction, data visualization, integrated computational materials engineering, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The MPPATC met 6 May 2019, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
The following officers were elected:

Chair: Pallava Kaushik, ArcelorMittal Global R&D – East Chicago

Vice chair, Bryan Webler, Carnegie Mellon University

Papers chair: Thinium Natarajan, U. S. Steel Research and Technology Center

Membership chair: Judy Li, ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor

IQRS chair: Bill Jones, U. S. Steel – Granite City Works

The MPPATC and MSCTC met jointly 20–21 February 2019, Franklin, Tenn., USA.
The MPPATC and MSCTC reviewed the Steel Industry Fatalities report and held a safety roundtable discussion. 
The group discussed the AIST Transactions and whether papers submitted to AIST Transactions can be separated on the AIST Digital Library and whether these papers (and those presented at MS&T or AISTech) can be included in existing scientific citation systems. The current status of papers in the queue for publication was reviewed and the possibility of having an AIST Transactions paper included in Iron & Steel Technology on a monthly basis was suggested. The AIST Digital Library was also a point of discussion, along with the possibility of uploading more historical conference proceedings.
Alyssa Briere and Daniel Baker reviewed the current status of AISTech paper submissions. The responsibilities of session chair were reviewed. There are five MPPATC and six MSCTC sessions, with a total of 
53 papers. 
Damon Panahi of the MPPATC and Bryan Webler of the MSCTC will attend the AIST Digital Transformation Task Force meeting during AISTech 2019.
The group had the opportunity to visit the GM Spring Hill facility on the afternoon of 20 February. The tour included the assembly, body weld, stamping, powertrain and the finish car.  

The next day, the following presentations were given: 

• “IQRS Round Robin Update,” by Sunday Abraham, SSAB Iowa Inc.

• “Advanced Cleanliness Control in the 2nd Generation of PHS at ArcelorMittal,” by Hossein 

• Seyedrezai, ArcelorMittal Global R&D.

• “Cleanliness Effects on Bearing Steels,” by Peter Glaws, Timken Steel Corp.

• “Cleanliness Analysis at SSAB Americas,” by Justin Raines, SSAB Iowa Inc.

• “Effect of Residual Copper on Fatigue of Hyper­eutectoid Steels,” by Emmanuel De Moor, Colorado School of Mines.

• “Effects of Inclusions on Mechanical Properties/Toughness,” by Scott Story and Matt Merwin, 

• U. S. Steel Research and Technology Center. 

• “TiN Effects on Fracture in Press-Hardened Steels,” by Matt Enloe, CBMM North America

In the afternoon, the committees had the opportunity to visit Nucor Steel–Decatur LLC. The tour included the electric arc furnace, ladle, casting, rolling and finishing. 

Pallava Kaushik (left), MSCTC chair, and Matt Enloe (right), MPPATC chair, presented Michael Gruhn (center) with a plaque of appreciation for hosting the MPPATC’s and MSCTC’s tour of the GM Spring Hill Stamping/Steel Plant.

Mike Farabee (right), manufacturing engineer, AMERICAN, accepted a plaque of appreciation from Pallava Kaushik (left).

The MSCTC met 27–28 September 2018, birmingham, AL, USA.
The MSCTC reviewed the 2018 Steel Industry Fatalities report, followed by a roundtable discussion.
Alyssa Briere, Stelco, papers chair, led the discussion on AISTech 2019 technical session development. The instructions for papers chair and session chair were reviewed.
Planning for the Kent Peaslee Award was discussed. This award will be presented at AISTech 2019 in Pittsburgh, Pa., USA.
The following attendees gave presentations:

• Sunday Abraham, SSAB Iowa Inc., gave an IQRS update.

• April Pitts-Baggett, Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa Inc., presented “What Lies Beneath — Slag Emulsification.”

•  Bryan Webler, Carnegie Mellon University, and Scott Story, U. S. Steel Research and Technology Center, gave presentations from the Clean Steel 10 Conference. Webler’s presentation was titled “Classification of Non-Metallic Inclusions via Computer Vision and Machine Learning,” and Story presented “Inclusion Analysis and Control in Advanced High-Strength and Calcium-Treated Steel Grades.”

• Charles Monroe gave an overview of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Thinium Natarajan (left) and Pallava Kaushik (center) presented Scott Story (right) with the MSCTC service plaque at AISTech 2018.

The MSCTC met 7 May 2018, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
The following officers were elected:

• Chair: Pallava Kaushik, ArcelorMittal Global R&D – East Chicago

• Vice chair: Bryan Webler, Carnegie Mellon University

• Papers chair: Alyssa Briere, Stelco

• Membership chair: Thinium Natarajan, U. S. Steel Research and Technology Center

• IQRS chair: Bill Jones, U. S. Steel – Granite City Works

The MSCTC and CCTC met 6–7 February 2018, Florence, S.C., USA.
The CCTC and MSCTC reviewed safety statistics and had an excellent discussion focusing on the causes and the age breakdown of fatalities.
AISTech 2018 sessions were finalized. The CCTC has eight sessions and MSCTC has six sessions. The group discussed upcoming deadlines for AISTech 2018, as well as the roles of the session chair and papers chair.
The Continuous Casting Best Paper award and the Kent D. Peaslee Memorial Award (a joint-committee award between the MSCTC and the Ladle & Secondary Refining Technology Committee)were discussed.
Both committees went through nominations for the upcoming 2018–2019 officer rotation.
Rudolf Moravec, ArcelorMittal Global R&D, reviewed the most recent Caster Study Tour, which was held in Japan in November 2017.
The following technical presentations were given:

• “HD Scan Macrosegregation,” by Joe Laughlin, SMS group.

• “Elemental Segregation Analysis in Continuous Steel Castings Using Micro-XRF,” by Kenny Witherspoon, I-XRF.

• “Micro-XRF analysis of Metals,” by Mike Beauchaine, Bruker.

• An analysis of the round-robin testing for centerline evaluation performed by the IQRS subcommittee was given by Sunday Abraham, SSAB Americas, and Joydeep Sengupta, Arcelor­Mittal Dofasco G.P.

• Ron O’Malley, Missouri University of Science and Technology, talked about recent inclusion research at the Peaslee Steel Manufacturing Research Center.

The next day, the group toured Nucor Steel–South Carolina.

1. Kenny Witherspoon presented during the CCTC and MSCTC joint meeting on 6 February 2018. 2. Scott Story (right) presented a plaque of appreciation to Ian Deeks (left) for hosting the tour of Nucor Steel–South Carolina on 7 February 2018.

The MSCTC met 4–5 October 2017, Golden, Colo., USA. The MSCTC reviewed the 2017 Steel Industry Fatalities report and had a safety roundtable discussion.
Roger Maddalena, papers chair, discussed the MSCTC’s AISTech 2018 technical session development. The committee will have six sessions, including joint sessions with the CCTC and LSRTC.
The MSCTC discussed the new AIST Kent Peaslee Award (see LSRTC meeting recap for details) and how the winner will be chosen.
The following technical presentations were given:

• Inclusion Evolution During Solidification and Their Impact on Product Quality,” by Scott Story, U. S. Steel Research and Technology Center.

• Effect of Inclusions on Fatigue Resistance in Bearing Products,” by Peter Glaws, TimkenSteel Corp.

• Effect of Cu and Sn on Hot Cracking,” by Sridhar Seetharaman, Colorado School of Mines.

• Bending Performance Improvement of Dual-Phase Steel With 1,000 MPa Tensile Strength,” by Pallava Kaushik, ArcelorMittal Global R&D.

• The Significance of Negative Strip Time Revisited,”  by Ed Szekeres, Casting Consultants Inc.

The next day, the MSCTC ventured over to Colorado School of Mines, where Brian Thomas discussed the Continuous Casting Center (CCC) and Kip Findley talked to the group about the Advanced Steel Processing & Products Research Center (ASPPRC). Seong-Mook Cho from the CCC and Mary O’Brien from the ASPPRC were able to present their recent work. The group then toured the lab facilities at the Colorado School of Mines.

1. Kip Findley discussed the Advanced Steel Processing & Products Research Center at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM). 2. Brian Thomas gave an overview of the Continuous Casting Center at CSM.

	Roger Maddalena (right) presented Scott Story (left) with the MSCTC service plaque.

The MSCTC met 8 May 2017, Nashville, Tenn., USA.

The following officers were elected:

• Chair: Scott Story, U. S. Steel Research and Technology Center

• Vice chair: Pallava Kaushik, ArcelorMittal Global R&D – East Chicago

• Papers chair: Roger Maddalena, Vesuvius USA

• Members chair: Alyssa Briere, Stelco

• IQRS chair: Bill Jones, U. S. Steel – Great Lakes Works

	Sunday Abraham (left), LSRTC chair, presented a plaque of appreciation to Eugene Pretorius (center) and Helmut Oltmann (right), Nucor Steel–Berkeley, for hosting the LSRTC and MSCTC’s tour.

The LSRTC and MSCTC met 15–16 February 2017, Charleston, S.C., USA. The LSRTC and MSCTC finalized their respective AISTech 2017 technical sessions.
The winner of the AIST 2017 Ladle and Secondary Refining Best Paper Award was announced. This award will be presented at AISTech 2017 during the LSRTC meeting.
Bill Jones presented the award, named after Kent Peaslee. The MSCTC award subcommittee will coordinate with the Refining and Casting Technology Division to evaluate the nominees.
Ron O’Malley moved the motion to award the Kent Peaslee Award to the best inclusion engineering paper from the previous year’s AISTech conference. The motion was seconded and carried unanimously.
Committee officers for 2017–2018 were discussed and elections will take place at each committee’s meeting during AISTech 2017.
Jimmy Barrett reviewed the activities and attendance of the last training seminar, Secondary Steelmaking Refractories — A Practical Training Seminar. The next seminar is scheduled on 23–26 October 2017 in Milwaukee, Wis., USA. Charter Steel – Saukville will serve as host plant.
The 2017 Caster Japan Study Tour will be held on 5–11 November 2017. The program for the tour, which is  awaiting approval from the ISIJ, was presented. The producers of the MSCTC and LSRTC were invited to register and attend this study tour.

The following technical presentations were given:

• “High Definition — High Performance HD Mold,” by Joseph Laughlin, SMS USA LLC.

• “Ladle Free Open – Ladle Well Sand,” by Scott Story, U. S. Steel Research and Technology Center.

• “Designing Mold Powder,” by Darrell Sturgill, IMERYS.

• “Investigation of Mold Flux Crystallization by Continuous Cooling and Isothermal Methods,” by Elizabeth Peterson, Missouri University of Science and Technology.

• “Computer Modeling of Refining in the Ladle,”   Chenn Zhou and Sotiri Hovardas, Purdue University Northwest.

• “SiC Production and Its Use in Steelmaking,” by Brad Meibers, Washington Mills.

• “SiC as a Tap Ladle Deoxidizer,” by Scott Story.

The committees discussed their fall meetings. The LSRTC will meet after Secondary Steelmaking Refractories — A Practical Training Seminar in Milwaukee, Wis., USA, on 26 October 2017. The MSCTC will meet on 4–5 October 2017 at the Colorado School of Mines.
The LSRTC and MSCTC capped off their meeting with a tour of Nucor Steel–Berkeley’s steelmaking operations.

The LSRTC and MSCTC enjoyed a plant tour of Nucor Steel–Berkeley during its 15–16 February 2017 meeting.

	Scott Story (right), MSCTC chair, presented Bob Heil (left), steelmaking metallurgist at Charter Steel – Saukville, with a plaque of appreciation for hosting the MSCTC’s tour during its 28–29 September 2016 meeting.

The MSCTC met 28–29 September 2016, Milwaukee, Wis., USA. The MSCTC reviewed the 2016 Steel Industry Fatalities report, followed by a safety roundtable discussion.
Roger Maddalena led a discussion on AISTech 2017 technical session development. For the MSCTC’s six sessions, 29 abstracts were selected. The MSCTC reviewed instructions for session chairs, who were also selected during the meeting, and papers chairs.
Bill Jones, chair of the Internal Quality Rating System Subcommittee, provided an update on the status on the inclusion engineering and clean steel practice publication. Papers from Peter Glaws, Ron O’Malley, Lifeng Zhang, E. Buddy Damm and Scott Story will be included in the publication.
The MSCTC unanimously voted to establish the Kent Peaslee Best Paper Award, which will be presented to the best MSCTC paper presented at future AISTech conferences. This proposal will be submitted to the AIST Board of Directors.
The MSCTC will hold a 2017 Japan Caster Study Tour. Details of this program were discussed.
Presentations are needed for the MSCTC’s joint meeting with the Ladle Secondary Refining Technology Committee, which will be held in February 2017. Those interested in presenting should contact Scott Story and Sunday Abraham.
The following presentations were given:

• “Macrosegregation Evaluation Using Micro-XRF Large Area Scanning,” by Thinium Natarajan, U. S. Steel Research and Technology Center.

• “PDA-OES,” by Jean-Marc Bohlen and Brad Cooley, Thermo Fisher Scientific.

• “Quantitative Assessment of Slab Internal Quality,” by Sunday Abraham, SSAB Iowa.

• “The Effect of Sulfur Wire Additions to Calcium Treated Aluminum-Killed Fine-Grain Steel,” by Troy Kaczorowski, Charter Steel – Cleveland.

• “Use of Thermodynamic Models in Steelmaking,” by Stephano Piva and Mauro Elias Ferreira, Carnegie Mellon University.

The MSCTC service plaque was presented to Roger Maddalena (left to right): Bill Jones, Maddalena, Scott Story and Sunday Abraham.

The MSCTC met 16 May 2016, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

The MSCTC met 9–10 March 2016, Charleston, S.C., USA.
The MSCTC reviewed the 2016 Steel Industry Fatalities statistics, followed by a safety roundtable discussion.
The MSCTC finalized its AISTech 2016 technical sessions. The roles of session chair and papers chair were re-emphasized.
Nominations for MSCTC officers for the 2016–2017 term were confirmed.
The MSCTC reviewed the following upcoming AIST Study Tours:

•  2016 United Kingdom Specialty Steelmaking Study Tour on 19–25 June 2016.

•  2016 Italy EAF Study Tour on 13–19 November 2016.

• 2017 Japan Caster Study Tour being considered.

A joint meeting with the Ladle Secondary Refining Technology Committee is being planned for February 2017. Details will be formalized during the fall 2016 meeting.
Presentations were given by the following individuals:

• Bryan Webler of Carnegie Mellon University, “Evolution of Inclusion Chemistry and Size Distributions After Controlled Reoxidation.”

• Pallava Kaushik of ArcelorMittal Global R&D, “Improving the Castability and Increasing the Sequence Length of IF-TiSULC Steel Grades.”

• Bob Heil of Charter Steel – Saukville, Wisconsin gave a presentation on inclusion studies at Charter Steel – Saukville, Wisconsin.

• Helmut Oltmann of Nucor Steel–Berkeley gave a presentation on Nucor Steel–Berkeley’s steelmaking facility. 

Roger Maddalena (right), MSCTC chair, presented Helmut Oltmann (left) and Eugene Pretorius (center) with a plaque of appreciation for hosting a tour of Nucor Steel–Berkeley.