2ND INTERNATIONAL-CONFERENCE ON SPRAY FORMING

Many of the contributions to ICSF2 suggested that a change in emphasis has taken place since the first conference in 1990. Important develop ments are still being made to the metallurgical and process aspects of spray forming, but these are no longer the only challenges. The need to introduce a 'total technology' approach to capture existing markets from established processes and to generate new ones - proof of rigoro usly assessed cost benefits and/or improved properties, quality contro l, etc. - received considerable attention, often with conflicting conc lusions being drawn. Nevertheless, evidence was provided that steady c ommercial progress is being made, most notably the announcement that t he Mazda Eunos 800, launched recently at the Tokyo Motor Show, contain ed a spray formed rotor part manufactured by Sumitomo Light Metals.