Research and development work on the utilisation of metallurgical wastes at the National Metallurgical Laboratory

The science of metallurgy is based on extraction of metals from their ores on an economic basis. Whilst the metallic ores gradually become leaner, the requirements of different metals and their alloys on the other hand progressively become more specialised in terms of rigid service requirements in the background of rapidly expanding horizon of engineering technology. The resulting spiralling production costs in their wake require the metallurgical back room boys not only to improve the intrinsic economics of metal extraction and processing but also to devise economic means and develop technical 'know-how' for the recovery and utilisation of most of the resulting by products and metallurgical wastes. In these fields of turning metallurgical wastes into useful assets, metallurgical research ingenuity and engineering technology today present a broad spectrum as vast as it is challenging in the past background of general apathy and back yard treatment in making the best use of metallurgical by-products and waste. (Dr. B.R. Nijhawan, Director, National Metallurgical Laboratory)