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| Hans Ivar Laukli, head of the research team at the RTD centre at Sunndalsøra, at a scanning electronic microscope used for analysing different particle types in aluminium. |
“One of the areas where Hydro has its great strength is within research, development and Technology, and Hydro has over many years built up competence throughout the entire value chain,” says Roar Ørsund, head of the Research and Technology Development Centre (RTD) and Hycast, Hydro’s company dedicated to the development of casting technology, both localised in Sunndalsøra.
“R&D is also an important business development tool. Along with our customers we are developing and boosting the use of aluminium in the segments we operate in.
We currently work closely with a number of customers and wish to develop these contacts even more because we believe the next generation’s solutions and products are best developed when our research scientists are directly involved with our customers,” he says.
Technology development
Technology development is first and foremost important with a view to securing cost-effective operations and ensuring that customers obtain products that are of a consistently high quality. The casting technology, which has been developed in the research cluster at Sunndalsøra since the 1970s, has been patented. “Our constantly growing market share in recent years provides clear proof that this technology has contributed to the excellent quality. It is therefore Hydro’s ambition to further develop its metal treatment and casting technology, as well as the technology that can increase the use of recycled metal,” says Ørsund. “Having technology and competence throughout the entire value chain makes it easier to carry out modifications that improve the quality of the final product,” states senior adviser Idar Steen at the RTD centre at Sunndalsøra. In practice this means that when a customer has special needs, with regard to either a product or a process, Hydro has the knowledge about where in the value chain the necessary adjustments are needed, whether they relate to the product or the technology. They may involve design changes or various other properties, such as metal formability, surface properties or other parameters.
He explains that the next generation of billets is now being tested. This is a joint project between Hycast and the RTD centre and a good example of how Hydro controls all the links in the chain right down to the end customer – from alloy development, equipment concept, the industrialisation of equipment, casthouse operation and post-treatment such as extruding and rolling. By exploiting our know-how in this way, it is possible for us to customise products.
How can we utilise our know-how?
”Our main concern is to establish a strong link with our internal sales and market organisations, in addition to Hydro’s customers. In this way, we ensure that our research is relevant to our customers and our customers’ customers,” explains Hans Ivar Laukli and Trond Furu, head of the research team and senior adviser for cast products at the RTD centre at Sunndalsøra, respectively. In practice, this means that they are seeking to develop alloys that constantly provide optimal product properties at the lowest possible price, that is processes as cost-effective as possible.. They are keen that customers should gain a competitive advantage by purchasing Hydro’s products, and that they feel they are getting real and valuable service from Hydro. In this way, Hydro’s R&D and technological know-how greatly help the company consolidate its market position.
“Many of the challenges we are given by Hydro’s market organisation are of a fundamental character, and we then find it highly beneficial to have our university partners and to be part of a competency network,” they say, adding that an important task right now is to see how more used scrap can be applied in existing and new products.
Thinking recycling and the environment
Hydro’s casting technology and material expertise are important tools for the company’s network of remelters around the world to be able to deliver products of the same quality as primary metal products. The remelt plants base their operations on utilising process scrap (internally), scrap from customers, used scrap from the market and standard ingot (primary metal) to adjust the composition of the metal. Given the expertise the company has built up through its extensive remelt activities, but also through the recycling of used scrap ever since 1992, Hydro’s goal is to take back an ever greater share of used scrap from the market and be able to offer its customers an even greater degree of quality products that contain an increasing proportion of recycled metal.
Competency network
To be at the cutting edge of R&D, Hydro’s research centres are part of an extensive, international network. Central here are Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and SINTEF, the Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research at NTNU. NTNU’s focus is on education and basic research, and it captures new ideas and trends through its international academic cooperation with universities the world over. SINTEF’s role is to help develop basic research results into industrial opportunities through active project cooperation with Hydro.
Through close contact with university professors with first-rate theoretical expertise in their respective fields and an active cooperation with SINTEF, Hydro’s researchers gain access to new knowledge which is used in Hydro’s internal projects and implemented in improvement and new development of processes and products.
The aluminium research carried out in Norway has developed to become an international leader, according to Laukli and Furu who are working actively to advance the competency network.
“Such a network enables us to be aware of the status in an area all the time, so that we know where we can get complementary competence. We have therefore a very competent apparatus for dealing with customers’ enquiries,” they say.
