Research & Development
A close-knit team of technical experts in the fields of chemistry, metallurgy and steel casting continues to support our customers.
The operational reality of the continuous casting department in a steel mill requires much more than a simple supply of casting powders: it is not a simple commodity as the casting conditions and the optimal chemical and physical characteristics of the powders are analyzed time by time so that products really based on the specific needs of the customers are realized. In order to guarantee the required level of service, intensive cooperation between Prosimet’s staff and its customers is necessary. To do this Prosimet employs a close-knit team of technicians and researchers, experts in the fields of chemistry, steel metallurgy and continuous steel casting.
Cutting-edge technological tools
At the heart of this activity is the chemical-physical materials laboratory that Prosimet has wanted over the years always equipped with cutting-edge instrumentation. The laboratory activity supports both technical assistance to customers and research for the development of new products, for the formulation of tailor-made solutions and to make existing formulations more performing. This laboratory is equipped with sophisticated instruments:
heated platen microscope • microwave mineralizer • heated automatic pearl machine • rotational high temperature viscosimeter • XRF spectrometer • atomic absorption spectrometer • total carbon and sulfur analyser • total carbon and carbon dioxide analyser • laser granulometer • TGA-DSC analyser • XRD diphractometer • high resolution rheometer
Prestigious strategic partnerships
Prosimet’s success at international level is particularly due to the constant attention to innovation, continuous R&D activities and collaborations with the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Milan – Departments of Physics-Chimics and Geology – and with the Politecnico di Milano – Department of Metallurgy.
In 2016 Prosimet signed a distribution agreement with the RHI-Magnesita group, world leader in the refractory sector, thanks to which its products are offered and distributed all over the world as a complement to the RHI-Magnesita product portfolio.
The increasing attention to the customer has led to the fruitful cooperation with Ergolines Lab Srl, a leading company in the engineering of plants in the iron and steel industry, for the design and construction of tailor-made feeding systems for casting powders. Recently the same concept has been implemented also for the feeding of the innovative Proil™ product.
Our scientific publications
Structure of Soda-Lime-Aluminosilicate glasses as revealed by in-situ Synchrotron Powder Diffraction experiments
An effective solution for open casting improvements at mid American steel and wire: Facts and figures of PROIL application.
Structure and its effects on viscosity of fluorine-free mold flux_substituting CaF2 with B2O3 and Na2O
Research activities
Within some consolidated collaborations with Universities and Research Institutions in Italy and abroad, Prosimet has pursued several scientific research activities specifically oriented to a better understanding and characterization of the physical phenomena underlying the functioning of these products. It is worth recalling the high resolution diffraction measurements at the European Syncrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble (F), completed during 2017, and the most recent research proposal accepted at the NIMROD line of the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source in Hartwell, Oxford (UK).
Educational
In the course of many years of collaboration with the University of Milan and the Politecnico di Milano, Prosimet has encouraged and hosted in its laboratories many university students engaged in research for master, specialist or doctoral theses. This has given the company the opportunity to contribute to the significant training of qualified people and to establish relationships of participation and exchange that constitute a solid and valuable wealth of skills. At RWTH Aachen University, various lectures have been held on mould flux technology for college as well as for Ph.D students.