Dr Richard Thackray
BEng PhD DIC
ARSM
Tata Steel Lecturer in Steelmaking
Address:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street, Sheffield, S1 3JD
Telephone: +44 (0) 114 222 5963
Fax: +44 (0) 114 222 5943
Email: r.thackray@sheffield.ac.uk
Richard joined the Department in Oct 2003 from Imperial College London, where he worked in the Materials Processing Group with Professor Ken Mills.
Research interests
His main research interests are in the continuous casting of steel, in particular the role of mould powders in the processing route. A number of projects that attempt to improve the understanding of the relationship between the properties of mould powders to the properties of the cast steel have been initiated. In addition, work is being carried out to understand the effect of secondary steelmaking and thermomechanical processing operations on inclusion formation and behaviour. Richard is also involved in a number of projects that look at aspects of sustainability in steelmaking, in particular, initiatives to reduce energy consumption in steelmaking, and reuse/recycling of waste material.
- Effect of crystallinity on heat transfer during continuous casting
- Study of defects during continuous casting
- Investigation into the factors affecting nozzle clogging
- Casting and processing of new generation TRIP and TWIP steels
- New casting technologies - endless strip production, thin slab casting
- Factors affecting the hot ductility of steel
- Characterisation of inclusions in steelmaking
- Sustainable Plate Making
- Solidification of Pipeline Steels
- Tundish Design
Key projects
- Oxide/refractory Interactions in Steelmaking – The Effect of Sulphur and Calcium on the Behaviour of Zr based Inclusions in Liquid Steel
- A Study on the Causes of Defects during the Continuous Casting of Stainless Free Cutting Steel Billets
- Sustainable Plate Making – Investigating the Effect of Process Route on the Properties of Pipeline Steels
- Studies on the Solidification of Pipeline Grade Steels
- Sustainable Biomass as an Alternative to Coke in Steelmaking
- The Role of Inclusions in the Thermomechanical Processing of Steel
Professional activities and recognition
- Member of the Iron and Steel Society of the IOM3
- President of the Sheffield Metallurgical and Engineering Association
- Member of the Association of Iron and Steel Technology
- Member of the Sustainable Development Group of the IOM3
Key publications
- M Faraji, RP Thackray, I Todd and P Tsakiropoulos ‘Rating Inclusions in As Cast Carbon Steel’, AISTech, Pittsburgh, 2010.
- RP Thackray, PF Morris and KA Ridal, ‘Alloys for Critical Applications’, Ironmaking and Steelmaking, Vol 37, No 4, 2010.
- A Dey and RP Thackray, ‘A Study of the Interactions of Exogeneous Inclusions with SEN Walls during Continuous Casting’, 6th European Conference on Continuous Casting, Riccione 2008.
- A Dey and RP Thackray, ‘Effect of Sulphur on the Deposition of Inclusions on the Surface of SEN Materials’, AISTech 2008, Pittsburgh.
- RP Thackray, ‘Tools for Online Teaching’, Materials World, Vol 16, No 7, 2008.
- KC Mills, Y Su, AB Fox, Z Li, RP Thackray and HT Tsai, 'A Review of Slag Splashing', ISIJ International, Vol 45 (2005), No 5 pp 619-663.
- KC Mills, AB Fox, Z Li and RP Thackray, 'Performance and Properties of Mould Fluxes', Ironmaking and Steelmaking, Vol 32 (2005), No 1, pp 26- 34.
- Z Li, RP Thackray, and KC Mills, 'A Test to determine Crystallinity of Mould Fluxes', 7th Intl. Conf. on Molten Slags, Fluxes and Salts, South Africa, Jan 2004.
Research group
Research Associates:
Dr Masoumeh Faraji
PhD students:
Anh Tu Tran (IMMPETUS Studentship)
John Prebble (EPSRC/Outokumpu)
Sarah Haine (EPSRC/Siemens VAI)
Nicola Hurst (DTC/Corus)
Lucy Johnson (DTC)
KTP Associates:
Robert Deffley (LPW)
Research centres
PhD Opportunity with the Department of Engineering Materials and Corus
Predictions of the Behaviour of Inclusions Introduced by Alloy Impurities in Liquid Steel