Dr Auinger’s paper entitled ‘Grain boundary oxidation in iron-based alloys investigated by O enriched water vapour – The effect of mixed oxides in binary and ternary systems,’ has been awarded the TP Hoar Award 2016, by the Institute of Corrosion.

The award takes its name from Dr Hoar who was the first recipient of the UR Evans Award – the premier scientific award of the Institute of Corrosion. The TP Hoar Award essentially recognises the Best Paper in Corrosion Science amongst engineers and scientists in steels processing.

This award marks a very successful period for Dr Auinger. In September he also received recognition from the European Optical Society (EOS), scooping the prestigious Best Paper Prize 2014-2015.

Dr Auinger’s report on ‘Effects of surface roughness on optical heating of metals’ has been awarded the esteemed Best Paper Prize 2014-2015, by the European Optical Society (EOS).

Dr Auinger, who co-wrote the report and has been described as the main ‘driving force’ behind it, said: “The EOS is celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year, which makes this award extra special. It was a great surprise, and I feel totally honoured to receive such acclaim.”

The search for stable materials during fast temperature changes or thermal cycling conditions is one of the biggest challenges in modern alloy design. Dr Auinger conducted his research over a six month period with colleagues from Germany at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung in Düsseldorf and SENTECH Instruments in Berlin.

New strategies of making steel production more efficient have been discovered, thanks to research led by WMG at the University of Warwick on the role of oxidation during alloy additions.

The research, led by Dr Michael Auinger of WMG, together with the Vienna University of Technology (Austria) and voestalpine Stahl GmbH (Austria) developed a better understanding for the oxidation behaviour inside steels during hot rolling, which could potentially help manufacturers to reduce the amount of steel lost during production.

Dr Auinger and his co-researchers analysed the oxidation behaviour of different iron-based alloys. They found that particularly the combinations of iron-manganese and a second alloy addition - representing a simplified version of many high strength steels in automotive - suffer from severe oxide formation along grain boundaries if these alloys are processed in an inappropriate manner.