(Participant: A. Toulfatzis)

The paper with the title “Study of heat treatment influence on microstructure and mechanical behaviour of lead-free extruded brasses for machinability improvement” authored by Mr. Anagnostis Toulfatzis and Dr. George Pantazopoulos from ELKEME S.A. and Prof. Alkiviadis Paipetis from University of Ioannina, was presented in the Brass Alloys 2016 Conference, 25-27 May 2016, Stockholm, Sweden.

In this work, a combination of twenty seven (27) heat treatment experiments (varying temperature and soaking time) was performed in order to transform the microstructure and consequently modify the mechanical properties of three lead-free brass alloys (CW510L – CW511L – C27450). The main goal was to achieve, through the heat treatment, a favourable microstructure, which would provide a direct beneficial effect on machinability and simultaneously maintain the mechanical properties within a certain range of EN standard requirements.