The international conference on thermal spraying ITSC - International Thermal Spray Conference & Exposition was held this year from 21 to 23 May 2014 in Barcelona, Spain. The English ITSC is carried out at different locations around the world annually in exchange either by the U.S. American Association ASM American Society of Materials or from DVS – Deutscher Verband für Schweißen und verwandte Verfahren e.V.
The conference, which also includes an extensive poster session, is accompanied by an exhibition with an industry forum; another important point of contact for visitors. Here leading companies in lectures inform about new products or locally demonstrated practical applications.
With numbers from 900 - 1100 visitors and participants the ITSC is the most important conference in the field of thermal spraying. It enjoys the reputation as a world's information and networking platform. For three days, the ITSC offered under the motto: "Not Fiction: Thermal Spray the Key Technology in Modern Life!" with more than 200 lectures by honored speakers from the thermal spray technology a comprehensive overview of the current status and future developments. The GSI mbH was represented by three lectures from two of its institutes, the SLV Duisburg and the SLV Munich.
The presentation of GSI SLV Duisburg on "The influence of the application conditions by thermally spraying on the corrosion behavior of ZnAl coatings" dealt with the sustainable corrosion protection of wind turbines by thermal spraying.
In the context of this paper findings from the recently concluded project "offshore wind power installations - Requirements and strategies of the thermal spray process performance - Corrosion protection works by thermal spraying" were presented (BMWi, 01FS11001). The application of the results of the above-mentioned research project aims primarily at making the currently existing standards in the construction industry to complete the corrosion protection by thermal spray processes and thus to provide the user an improved set of rule.
The GSI SLV Munich informed during the conference topic of "Quality, Environment, Health & Safety" and during the Industrial Forum about the current state for training and qualification of personnel spray and possibilities of certification of spray operations. The GSI SLV Munich branch offers courses for over 15 years in "thermal spraying". These are in addition to experience and seminars in metallography especially the annual once performed ETSS (European spray expert) course and the ETS (European Thermal Sprayer) course, which takes place in cooperation with the SLV Duisburg several times a year or at SLV Munich and is in demand as an in-house course of firms in the various industries.
Increasingly international business also demands internationally recognized qualifications. Here are the requirements in sensitive areas such as aviation and rail vehicles - national and international - particularly high.
Therefore, the SLV Munich provides for about 2 years the courses ETS and ETSS also in English language, with the intention of offering the possibility for these qualifications to students from small European countries. This is increasingly important as meanwhile the GTS requires these qualifications from its members. So far, two ETS courses were successfully conducted in the English language from the sectors mentioned above. Another English ETS course is planned in July and currently the working on the implementation of the first ETSS course in English are in progress.
By participating in the ITSC in Barcelona new contacts were made based on varied discussions ??and existing relationships were maintained. The next ITSC takes place together with the fairs Aeromat and Microstructural Characterization of Aerospace Materials and Coatings in Long Beach, USA, from May 11 to 14, 2015.