About
McMaster Steel Research Centre
The Steel Research Centre was set up to formalize and expand McMaster University’s well-established research links to Canada’s steel industry. Now in its third decade, the Centre has strong industrial support and graduates from the Centre are providing technical leadership to the industry worldwide.
The SRC’s research program is designed by its member companies and addresses difficult problems in primary and secondary steelmaking, process optimization and control, hot rolling, advanced high strength steels and metallic coating technology. Whole-of-process mathematical models have been developed that combine principles of high temperature chemical thermodynamics and kinetics with data from extensive laboratory and plant trials. The research program is highly collaborative with industry and is strengthened by access to production facilities and the generous advice we receive from prominent steel metallurgists.
The Centre is structured to foster collaboration and communication. Formal project review meetings are held in late fall and early summer, where graduate candidates present their results and receive valuable feedback. As part of these meetings, the Centre’s Board reviews budget matters and approves future directions. Member companies’ interest in intellectual property is protected by a membership agreement which confers royalty free rights to use the research results.
Expandable List
Industry collaboration with McMaster’s Department of Metallurgy and Metallurgical Engineering (Now Materials Science and Engineering) was formalized as long ago as 1962 with the establishment of the Stelco Chair in Metallurgy, held in succession through 199x by Robert Ward, Jack Kirkaldy, and Wei-Kao Lu, who together made significant contributions in the fields of phase transformations and primary iron and steelmaking.
Starting in 1997, Gordon Irons continued this tradition with a strong focus on steelmaking process metallurgy as Dofasco/NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Ferrous Metallurgy. In 2000, the success of this motivated the expansion of the Research Chair model for industrial collaboration into the Steel Research Centre. The Centre now combines the efforts of four steel-focused research chairs in the Departments of Materials Science and Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering with strong participation from additional faculty members in these three departments. Dr. Irons acted as the Centre’s Founding Director from 2000 to 2014 and was succeeded by Ken Coley from 2014 to 2019, when Joe McDermid was appointed Director.
McMaster University supports Science-based Manufacturing as a key research area. The SRC combines research objectives established by the steel industry with government funding supporting wealth creation through science. Developing exploitable technologies motivates and sustains a talented academic research team for the benefit of the steel industry, while producing a stream of knowledgeable engineers ready to make careers in steel. There are three components to the SRC’s mission:
- Research leading to commercially relevant new approaches to ironmaking, steelmaking process control, waste processing, steel product design and metal forming technologies.
- Training of highly qualified personnel who can transfer new technology to the steel industry.
- Continuing education for steel industry engineers to enhance the receptor capacity for innovation.
Guidance from the Centre’s industrial members is an essential principle of the organization. We have built up a membership consisting of the world’s major steel producers, as well as suppliers and engineering consultants to the industry.
Funding for research projects in the Centre comes from industrial membership fees, combined with research grants. Once a project proposal is approved by the Board, the Principal Investigator applies for grants under various programs of the Canadian federal government or the Province of Ontario. Since 2000, Centre projects have been awarded over $8M in operating funds and a further $15M towards capital costs to expand laboratory equipment capabilities. Individual member companies, then, benefit from a significant multiplier of about 9:1 on their annual contributions, as well as access to the Centre’s specialized test facilities.
We are grateful for the support of the following funding agencies:
Federal:
Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council Programs
Collaborative Research and Development
Industrial Research Chair
Idea to Innovation
Strategic Grants
Alliance Grants
Canada Foundation for Innovation
Innovation Fund
Leaders Opportunity Fund
John R. Evans Leaders Fund
Provincial:
Ontario Centres of Excellence
Ontario Research & Development Challenge Fund
Ontario Innovation Trust
Ontario Research Fund
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McMaster Steel Research Centre – Meetings
Steel Research Laboratory Facilities
McMaster Steel Research Centre – Research
McMaster Steel Research Centre – People
Our world-class researchers offer top notch support to the steel industry.
