It is a great honour for me to announce that the 6th Decennial Conference on Solidification Processing will be held at the Beaumont Estate, Old Windsor, UK, on 25-28 July 2017. This series of decennial conferences started in Brighton in 1967 with 350 delegates, and then moved to Sheffield for 1977, 1987, 1997 and 2007. Over half a century, it has earned itself a well-deserved name, World Solidification Olympiad.
Today, the world is standing at a turning point from the historical take-make-dispose linear economy to a more sustainable circular economy. The historical dissipative consumption of limited metal resources is giving way to a more sustainable circulation of existing metals. This provides us with great opportunities to formulate new metallic materials, to develop new casting technologies and to explore new applications. SP17 aims to bring together solidification scientists, casting engineers and end users from both academia and industry:
- To make a fresh and critical examination of our historical approaches to solidification research and casting technology innovation over the last 50 years.
- To discuss and identify new approaches to the grand challenges in the field for next 10 years and beyond.
Over the past 50 years, a generation of pioneers of solidification research and casting innovation have made remarkable progress in our field and they are now retired or retiring. A new generation of solidification researchers and casting engineers are assuming the responsibility for heralding a new era. SP17 will provide a forum for both the pioneers and the emerging leaders to voice their views on future opportunities and challenges in our field.
SP17 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness a historical transition. It gives me great pleasure to invite you to join us in 2017 for the grand event.
Abstract submission for this conference is now open, the deadline to submit an abstract is 1st November 2016.
Professor Z. Fan
Conference Chairman