SKF has signed a five year contract with Cambridge University Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy to set up the SKF University Technology Centre on Steels on campus in Cambridge.



The initial contract is for five years and will pioneer research, directed by SKF, on steels and heat treatment associated with advanced bearing technology.



Dr. Alan Begg; SKF Senior Vice President of Group Technology comments "I am delighted to be partnering with Cambridge University in this critical strategic area for us. They are universally renowned for their expertise in the physical metallurgy* of steels. And they attract top people who will underpin our in-house activities on steel and heat treatment, which remain absolutely key technologies for SKF".



The objective of the cooperation will be to rapidly advance SKF's knowledge of the physical metallurgy* of bearing steels leading to a range of new and improved products.



SKF will identify and a number of steel technology R&D topics for Cambridge University to work on that will lead to a better understanding of;



1. how to manage the detailed microstructure and exploit this knowledge to enhance bearing properties
2. how modifications to steel composition can enable complex operational demands to be mitigated
3. how to predict the performance relative to the steel and heat treatment ion.



Leading the team at Cambridge will be Professor Harry Bhadeshia a recognized world expert in physical metallurgy of steels and whose previous work has resulted in a number of novel steel compositions.



Dr. Alan Begg says: "I have known Harry Bhadeshia for a long time and greatly admire his work. It is excellent to get the opportunity to work alongside him in this programme"







Cambridge University sees the cooperation as an excellent opportunity to offer their researchers challenging, long term, projects that will develop and transfer technology from the laboratories to industrial products and applications in a way that is rewarding for themselves, SKF and the industrial world.

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