E-Archive

Interview

in Vol. 10 - March Issue - Year 2009
Promotion Of The Shot-Peening Process: MFN And IITT Combine Their Efforts
F-Xavier Abadie (left) speaks to Dr. Abbas Niku-Lari, President of IITT

F-Xavier Abadie (left) speaks to Dr. Abbas Niku-Lari, President of IITT

Interview with Dr. Abbas Niku-Lari, President of IITT, Institute for Industrial Technology Transfer. F-Xavier Abadie, Official MFN French Representative and Official MFN Trainer, met Dr. Niku-Lari at his office in Paris, Marne-La-Vallée, France.

(?) F. X. A.: Firstly, I would like to thank you on behalf of MFN for your kind agreement to combine IITT and MFN efforts in the promotion of the shot-peening process, and also for granting us a bit of your time in this interview.

(!) Dr. A. N-L.: As this is some kind of a passion in my life, it is actually a pleasure for me to amplify my efforts in the promotion of this well-established but still promising technology.

(?) F. X. A.: Your activity in the field of Technology Transfer is well known worldwide, what drives you?

(!) Dr. A. N-L.: More than 25 years ago, I founded the Institute for Industrial Technology Transfer, IITT-International, based in France, with the purpose of promoting technology Transfer by organizing national and world conferences in many different areas such as Materials Sciences, High Power Lasers, Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems, Structural Analysis, Superconductivity, Composite and Ceramics, Welding, and so on…  
Beside my research work, for over 35 years, I help creating links between research and industry by establishing several International Scientific Committees involving high-level researchers and industrial users.
My aim is to advance understanding between research and industry and to bring together those who have a technology and those who need one together.

(?) F. X. A.: What about publications?

(!) Dr. A. N-L.: My own papers and books are mainly in the field of shot-peening and other surface treatments as well as on residual stresses and their effect on fatigue of materials. 
Back in the 1980's, in the last century of the last millennium, I created and edited two series of books published by Pergamon Press in Oxford (UK) namely "Advances in Surface Treatments, AST" and "Structural Analysis Systems, SAS".  
Particularly I am proud of three multi-author books with contributions by the world’s most important experts of that time:

- ICSP-1, proceedings of the first International Conference on Shot Peening, 
- AST-4, The International Guidebook on Residual Stresses,
- SAS-1 to 3, International Guidebook on Finite Element codes.

Later, in the 1990's, I launched with IITT-International the "Technology Transfer Series" of books in material and computer sciences. Most of IITT proceedings are published under the Technology Transfer Series. 
The elaborations of my own publications in this field go beyond the frames of this interview. Readers may find them under my name or that of IITT using any web search engine.

(?) F. X. A.: And shot peening?

(!) Dr. A. N-L.: As you can see from the registered IITT-International logo, shot peening is an important topic of interest to me. In 1979, I founded the International Scientific Committee of shot peening (ISCSP) in Las Vegas, USA, which scientifically drives the series of conferences on shot peening that are held every three years in different parts of the world.
I was honored to co-chair ICSP-1 (1981) and ICSP-9 (2005) in Paris as well as ICSP-2 (1984) in Chicago. Most of the world's first class research work carried out in the last 30 years in the field of shot peening are published in the proceedings of ICSP conferences, which became the main source of information in this important technology.
Following ICSP1, local organizations have been created in different parts of the world like the "Impact Treatment Institute" in France, "Fachausschuss Kugelstrahlen" in Germany, "Japanese Shot Peening Society" in Japan etc... This gave the necessary impulse for doing much more research worldwide and providing guidelines for new standards in this field.

(?) F. X. A.: Is it true that most of MFN’s scientific contents of the training courses come from ICSP proceedings?

(!) Dr. A. N-L.: This is actually what makes our cooperation beneficial for the promotion of science and technology in this field.
 
(?) F. X. A.: How did the idea to combine IITT and MFN activities come about? 

(!) Dr. A. N-L.: After ICSP-9 was organized in 2005 in Paris by IITT-International with the sponsorship of MFN, The Shot Peener and CETIM, we realized that most MFN students and IITT Conferences attendees are looking for the same type of information. Therefore we felt this was the right time to combine our efforts for the benefit of the industry as well as of our two organizations.

(?) F. X. A.: How will it work practically?

(!) Dr. A. N-L.: To start with, the next French National Conference on shot peening “Conférence Nationale sur le Grenaillage de Précontrainte” organized by IITT-International will be held at Hotel Mercure in Noisy-le-Grand, just outside Paris, on 25 March 2009. MFN training courses in French will be coupled with the National Conference and held on March 26th and 27th, 2009 in the same hotel. This will offer our attendees a unique and useful occasion to gather in the same place, within a reasonable amount of time (two or three days), and in their mother language. They will learn about the latest advancements in peening technology supplied by IITT and the practical skills supplied throughout FAA accepted MFN Training Courses.

(?) F. X. A.: Are there other possible cooperation fields between IITT and MFN?

(!) Dr. A. N-L.: I hope that cooperation between MFN and IITT will continue for the benefit of research and the industry worldwide. Based on mutual benefit, IITT and MFN will cooperate in organizing joint workshops and conferences, not only in the field of shot peening but also in other metal finishing related topics.  

(?) F. X. A.: You started this interview by saying that shot peening is a well established but still promising technology. Could you please expound on your thoughts?

(!) Dr. A. N-L.: In 1979 I visited car manufacturers in Japan and in USA. American engineers were convinced that parts subjected to cyclic loading (springs, bars etc) should be designed without taking into account the beneficial effect of shot peening as a design factor. Shot peening was mainly used as an "additional security factor".  At that time, US cars were oversized. Japanese engineers, however, used shot peening as a real design parameter and were able to make smaller parts using less material in the manufacturing phase and less gas throughout the lifetime of a car. Many years later US manufacturers were obliged to build smaller cars, but under Japanese design rules. 
Clearly, the present crisis shows that there is still a major challenge in transportation industries for vehicle lightening. A lot of work has been done already, but today it is not clear if, or how, we could take advantage of shot peening performance taking into account the early steps of the mechanical and structural design of vehicles, including cars, trucks, agriculture, aircrafts, trains, boats, ships, etc. 

(?) F. X. A.: How could MFN and IITT promote good shot peening practice to obtain such an environmental friendly effect?

(!) Dr. A. N-L.: You are too modest. In reality MFN and IITT are already involved in that way. Remember, in the last few years MFN and IITT trained thousands of engineers who not only apply, but also promote, the smart use of shot peening in production.  The next step could be generating new research work, which will lead to new standards and specifications using modern technological advances in this field. 

(?) F. X. A.: Dr. Niku-Lari, I would love to continue this interview, but I hope as a partner of MFN, we will have many occasions to read articles by you… Would you like to say something in conclusion?

(!) Dr. A. N-L.:  in conclusion I would like to give the MFN readers my best wishes and I hope that our cooperation continues in a friendly and fruitful atmosphere in the coming years.

For Information: 
Dr. Abbas NIKU-LARI
Head of IITT-International
Institute for Industrial Technology Transfer, 
5 allée de la Grotte, 93160 Noisy-le-Grand, France
E-mail: nikulari@iitt.com, www.iitt.com