metal-powder.net8 MPR July/August 2013

EPMA launches new websiteEPMA’s website, www.epma.com, has been updated to provide users additional flex-ibility. The newly designed EPMA website is under-pinned by a Joomla! content management system, thereby enabling the content and services to be added more freely than the previous ver-sion.

“This is a great opportunity for the EPMA to build on the previous website experience,” said Andrew Almond, EPMA’s marketing manager. “The pre-vious version worked well for us over the last 10 years, with a few redesigns along the way. As technology moves for-ward, we have to be ready to

adapt and move with it, into the various ways customers and members want to com-municate with us. By using a Joomla! system, this will give us the flexibility we need to continue to provide our cus-tomers with the information and services they require and have come to expect.”

The new EPMA website has carried over most of the existing content from the previous version. A range of new services for members and non-members is under development, along with a plan to continually update the powder metallurgy case studies section through the Spotlight in PM programme. EPMA’s new website.

BASF eyes Asia Pacific region

BASF says that around 25% of its

global R&D will be conducted in

Asia Pacific by 2020.

BASF plans to invest €10 billion and create around 9,000 new jobs in order to achieve sales of €25 billion to customers in the Asia Pacific region by 2020.

Around 25% of BASF’s global R&D will be conducted in Asia Pacific by 2020, the company predicts.

“In the next decade, Asia Pacific will face huge chal-lenges while remaining the fastest growing market for the chemical industry,” said said Dr Martin Brudermüller, vice chairman of the board of executive directors of BASF,

responsible for Asia Pacific. “With our Asia Pacific strat-egy, we are positioning BASF as the leading provider of sus-tainable solutions for the Asia Pacific region. Based on our strong global R&D network, we will considerably strength-en our innovation capabilities in Asia Pacific, enabling us to better serve our customers in all industries in the region.”

Besides chemical R&D, BASF will establish research facilities in the areas of elec-tronic materials, battery mate-rials, agriculture, catalysis, mining, water treatment, poly-mers and minerals. Following the successful inauguration of the BASF Innovation Campus Asia Pacific in Shanghai, China, the company is currently considering estab-lishing a second Innovation Campus Asia Pacific.

More than €2 billion in regional sales will be achieved through new business and acquisitions by 2020, BASF projects.

Elektron sells Total CarbideElektron Technology has sold its subsidiary, Total Carbide, to Versarien for around £2.3 million.

Total Carbide is a manu-facturer of sintered tungsten carbide, primarily machinery parts for a number of key industries. Parts are made by way of a powdered metallur-gy process route combining tungsten carbide particles in a supporting matrix, offering high wear resistance with ductility, which has a sig-nificant advantage over other materials such as steel. The primary use of Total Carbide’s product is in the field of oil exploration, where it is used in drilling operations. Other sectors include automotive, metrology and high volume manufacturing testing.

On completion of the disposal, Elektron will hold approximately 10.3% of Versarien’s share capital.

Versarien is the manu-facturer of VersarienCu, a copper open-celled metallic

foam, of varying porosity and pore size, which acts as the primary heat exchange element between the heat source within a device and the heat transfer medium, such as the cooling fluid. It can be used in cooling mechanisms in servers, workstations, automotive systems and power condi-tioning equipment.

Versarien also has a pat-ented process, known as Lost Carbonate Sintering, or LCS, to develop new prod-ucts from a range of different materials, including copper, steel, aluminium, titanium, zinc, nickel and their alloys.

Versarian says that it intends to use the manufacturing facili-ties of Total Carbide in order to move Versarien Technologies’ products from pilot scale to full scale production to meet antic-ipated demand. The group will also continue to look closely for aligned acquisition targets in the sector of advanced materials.

MPR0413_News 8 29-07-13 11:22:20