Jernkontoret’s technical areas

Research at all process stages
- from raw material to finished product

Joint research is carried out within 15 technical areas (TO). The research covers materials and process engineering, from raw material to finished steel products as well as process stages such as rolling, extrusion and drawing.

There are also technical areas that relate to material properties, heat-treatment processes, analytical chemistry, non-destructive testing, digitalisation, powder metallurgy, by-products of steel production as well as the compass for increased societal value. Jernkontoret’s Department of Research and Education administers and co-ordinates the research in these technical areas.

More or less all steel plants in Sweden, Finland and Norway, as well as important suppliers and customers of the steel industry, participate in the joint research work.

Goals and focus

The object of the research is to strengthen the steel industry’s competitiveness within the respective technical area. The research is mainly needs-driven and focused on enabling its application in the companies. Basic research is carried on in parallel. Technology watch also takes place within the different technical areas.

Financing

The technical areas most often seek project finance by way of the major research programmes run by Jernkontoret but other funding sources also play a role. Companies that participate in research projects make both financial contributions and contributions in kind; that is, in terms of working time and full-scale industrial trials.

The research providers

Jernkontoret’s Department of Research and Education administers and co-ordinates the work within the technical areas. The research is carried out, as a rule, through collaboration between companies and the research providers in the form of higher education centres and industrial research institutes. Frequent partners are the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Luleå University of Technology (LTU) and Dalarna University on the academic side. Where the research institutes are concerned, for example Swerim. All in all, a total of some twenty research providers are involved in different research projects.

What, in Swedish, is called ‘bruksforskning’ is also carried out. This means that the research is performed at the participating companies, with their own resources being used.