Steel is the world’s most used and recyclable advanced material and underpins the UK manufacturing base. Swansea University is therefore delighted that the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) has awarded the Steel and Metals Institute (SaMI) £3million of capital funding to support its vision of delivering a 21st century steel industry.

This funding will enable SaMI to help the UK iron and steel making industry to transform into a low carbon, resource efficient sector utilising societal waste, such as plastics, which are currently non-recyclable.

The focus of the additional funding will be on smart steel processing of high value products, including steels for electric powered vehicles, manufactured affordable CO 2 -positive buildings and sustainable packaging that can only be delivered through the use of steel. The aim is to ensure the UK steel industry remains competitive in the fourth industrial age, able to produce the bulk of the steel needed within our own shores.

This funding supports five key areas of research ie carbon neutral steelmaking, advanced alloy optimisation, performance in extreme environments, novel functional metallic coatings and imaging science.

The research will be delivered by technology and innovation experts from numerous leading and diverse organisations working together with and at the Steel and Metals Institute who will deliver the research needed to bring these products and processes to industry.

The facilities at the Institute (SaMI) will provide both research-scale and key process scale-up equipment prior to commercialisation.

Brian Edy, director of the Steels and Metals Institute said: