The Bay of Plenty Polytechnic supported Titanium Industry Development Association (TiDA) is hosting a symposium on powder metallurgy industry advances this week.

Professor Bernd Kieback is speaking at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic.

The Thursday, June 9 symposium is planned for discussion on medical, industrial, aerospace and automotive applications of titanium.

The keynote speaker is a leading expert in the field of powder metallurgy, director of Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials (IFAM) in Dresden and director of Institute of Materials Science, Technical University of Dresden Professor Bernd Kieback.

The two institutes are leaders for powder metallurgy development and commercialisation in Europe.

The institutes invest in start-up companies and many of the lead companies in this field are led by people who have worked at these institutes.

He is recognised as Germany's leader in the field of powder metallurgy.

The symposium will provide the opportunity for industry leaders and academics to gain a further understanding of the impact on future industry and product development.

Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, together with the University of Waikato, are supporting the event to be held at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic's Windermere campus.

TiDA chief executive Warwick Downing is thrilled to be hosting Professor Kieback.

'New Zealand, and in particular Tauranga is leading the world in titanium development, and to have a speaker of this calibre in Tauranga, supports the research and development we have achieved,” says Warwick.

Powder metallurgy was first developed over 75 years ago and now includes many different consolidation methods which allow extremely high-quality metal components to be manufactured with precision so there is little or no need for further machining.

Powder metallurgy is now widely used by many industries including automotive, electronics, military, medical and dental industries.

It is particularly well-suited for complex geometry and miniaturised parts as computer aided design leads to quicker development times, cheaper development costs and more efficient and lightweight products.

Titanium and titanium alloys offer unparalleled advantages in powder metallurgy.

It has the highest strength to weight ratio of any metal; is lightweight; corrosion resistant; is the fourth most abundant metal in the earth's crust; has low electrical and thermal conductivity; good ductility; excellent fracture resistance; non-magnetic property; non-toxicity; biocompatibility; cryogenic properties; shape memory properties; and hydrogen affinity (for hydrogen storage).