Students from PPGCEM received the FIRE Alumni degree during an international congress.
Students Carolina Ierck Pereira, Luís Otávio Zaparoli Falsetti, and Otávio Henrique Borges, all supervised by Prof Dr Victor Carlos Pandolfelli from PPGCEM-UFSCar, were recognised with the FIRE alumni diploma during the latest Unified International Technical Conference on Refractories (UNITECR). The congress is the world's largest in refractories and takes place every two years in a different region of the globe. This year, the event was held in Frankfurt (Germany) from September 26 th to 29 th and featured approximately 300 technical presentations attended by more than 1100 participants from 48 countries.
The title of FIRE alumni is bestowed by the Federation for International Refractory Research and Education to students who, meeting the criteria of this federation, have conducted science-based exchanges at one of its affiliated institutions, comprising 10 universities and 15 companies worldwide. The Materials Microstructure Engineering Group (GEMM), coordinated by Prof. Pandolfelli, is the only laboratory in the
southern hemisphere accredited to FIRE.
Among the UFSCar students who received their diplomas this year, Carolina completed an internship at Imerys (based in France and a global leader in the supply of mineral raw materials), where she worked on developing ceramic foam characterization equipment using open-source technology. Luís conducted his internship in a partnership between the Technische Universiteit Delft and Tata Steel Nederland (both located in the Netherlands and renowned for their research and production of high-quality environmentally friendly steel), where he focused on validating models capable of improving the efficiency of removing non-metallic inclusions in steel through inert gas bubbling. And Otávio carried out his internship in the Institute of Ceramics, Refractories and Composite Materials at the Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg (located in Germany and a reference in research of novel materials and processes applied to the refractories industry), where he worked on the development of new eco-friendly refractory raw materials aimed at replacing highly toxic chromium-based aggregates.
Adding up to the students affiliated with GEMM who have completed international internships funded by FIRE, the number has now reached 11.
