Fri, 07 February, 2020
This year’s Armourers’ Alumni Company Reception took place on 3 February 2020 at the Armourers’ Hall in London. The Welding Institute works alongside the Armourers and Brasiers’ Trust as part of the TWI Materials Science Partnership to support and champion excellence and endeavour in materials science and metallurgy education and research.
Part of this work includes the conferring of awards for the best PhD student, the best BEng/BSc student, the best MSc student and a STEM ambassador award in recognition of a significant voluntary contribution to the STEM Ambassador Programme in the field of materials joining and structural integrity. A number of travel awards are also given to support postgraduate students in materials joining and structural integrity to allow them to attend an international conference related to their studies.
Alongside the recognition these awards provide, they also allow alumni status to the Armourers and Brasiers’ Trust, offering networking opportunities and entrance to the annual Armourers’ Alumni Company Reception.
This year’s event saw TWI’s PhD researcher in Friction and Forge Processes Pedro Santos deliver a presentation on ‘Advanced Joining Processes for Lightweight Applications in the Aerospace Sector.’ His three-minute presentation detailed how the use of advanced joining processes, with particular reference to refill friction stir spot welding, could replace the use of riveting to deliver weight-savings in the aerospace industry. Although Pedro’s talk was not voted as the winning speech, he was commended for his excellent talk, which sparked interesting questions and discussions during the reception.
In addition to his presentation, Pedro also participated and won the “captioned image” competition at the reception (you can see his winning entry below).
Speaking on the event, Pedro said, “It was my first time at the Armourers’ Hall in London and I was astonished by the wealth of exhibits on display. The event was a great opportunity to present innovative solutions to address current climate issues, as well as meet members and fellow recipients of the Armourers and Brasiers’ awards.”
