“Innovative spirit” behind alloy breakthrough

Leading the team that is now launching an entirely new embrittlement-free materials range is one of the highlights of Maria Ivermark’s seven years at Kanthal R&D. “We have just decided on the name! KANTHAL EF,” she says.

After her Master’s in Uppsala, Maria conducted her PhD in nuclear material sciences at the University of Manchester. “I really enjoyed living in a town with an academic profile as well as tons of sport and tons of concerts, such The Foo Fighters, for example.” says Maria.

Thereafter, she gained additional six years of experience in the R&D profession before moving on to Kanthal. What Maria really likes about Kanthal is that it offers an R&D environment with some 45 colleagues who work closely with customers and also collaborates with industry experts on several different projects. “Entrepreneurship is part of Kanthal’s DNA and it’s incredibly exciting to get immediate feedback on your research,” says Maria who also uses the term “innovative spirit”.

Most recently, Kanthal R&D has now finalized the new alloy range KANTHAL EF – short for embrittlement free. “Our traditional alloys become brittle if they are maintained at a specific narrow temperature range ” she explains. “KANTHAL EF contains optimum levels of alloying and trace elements to prevent embrittlement.”

As it’s a completely new product, Maria’s team is busy exploring potential applications. “We haven’t just upgraded older products, this is a completely new alloy family which we do know could be used as structural components in both passively heated environments as well as traditional resistance heating applications,” she says.

To friends who work in other fields, she compares her research to baking. “If you bake something without a recipe, you’ll always learn something,” Maria says. “Then, when you’ve come up with the ultimate combination, it’s time to write down the recipe to enjoy the results also in the future.”