We live in the steel age, so even though it will remain a fundamental part of the industry for years to come, alternative materials are actively being researched and developed to complement steel. Polymers, composites or ceramics are just a few. What role will they play in the future? And how viable are they for the manufacturing industry?

SKF was sparking conversation and spreading ideas with a new series of a knowledge-sharing symposium called “Let’s Talk”. Industry experts are discussing industry trends such as Digitalization, Industry Ecology and Counterfeiting in front of a live audience at leading universities.

The latest “Let’s Talk” event focuses on Future Materials and its role in meeting industry demands, such as reducing weight, size and cost of a product. Speakers are Harry Bhadeshia, Tata Steel Professor of Metallurgy, University of Cambridge; Martin Rawson, Technical Specialist on steels, Rolls-Royce; Professor Theo Dingemans, Department of Applied Physical Sciences, University of North Carolina and Steve Lane, Manager of the Metallic Materials and Ceramics Department, SKF.

“Steel remains the predominant material in industry. More than 1.7 billion tonnes of steel are in use worldwide and it’s expected to grow to 2.8 billion in 2050.”, says Steve Lane, SKF. “Incremental steps are being made to develop new grades and to clean up the steel making processes in order to reduce CO2 emissions by more usage of recycled scrap metal. However, the weight to strength relationship of materials is becoming increasingly relevant for design engineers, which is opening up new possibilities to use ceramics, composites, polymers and light alloys, providing of course they are both technically and economically feasible for replacing steel”.     

The recorded symposiums are available on SKF’s YouTube channel. Further information can also be found on our website: www.skf.com or by following the hashtag #LetsTalkFutureMaterials across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

More “Let’s Talk” videos will be published in the upcoming months.