The First North American Conference & Expo on Duplex Stainless Steels, Duplex America 2000, was held in Houston, Texas from February 28th to March 1st, 2000.

Duplex stainless steels are finding increased applications in the chemical, oil and gas industries including petrochemical process plants; the pulp & paper industry and the general engineering due to their outstanding corrosion resistance and mechanical properties.

KWAI attended the Conference & Expo to promote the sales of KOBELCO DW-2209 and DW-329AP flux cored wires (FCW) for duplex stainless steels. Kobe Steel dispatched a researcher, Mr. Hirohisa Watanabe, to this event for technical discussion on the FCWs with end users of fabricators and institutes. KWAI has been introducing the FCWs for duplex stainless steels for several years. This event was a good opportunity for KWAI to expand their business in duplex stainless steel FCWs in the U.S. market.

(Reported by Y. Nakai, KSL)

At the request of Unithai Shipyard and Engineering Ltd., a welding training course was held at the Laem Chabang factory in Thailand from September I st trough the 30th last year. This training course was planned and implemented by me, as per the Asian Local Training Program of the Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS) of Japan.

On-the-job training (OJT) and supplemental lectures are significant features of this course. The curriculum, therefore, consisted of 85% OJT and 15% lecture.

(Reported by S. Yamamoto, KWT editorial staff)

The Japan International Welding Show is going to be held at INTEX Osaka on April 12-15 this year. You will find key technologies to open the door to the 21st century. The details will be reported in the next issue. The 2000 AWS International Welding and Fabricating Exposition is going to be held at Chicago's McCormick Place from April 26 through 28 this year. You will see some information of this event in the next issue.