At Vantage Alloys, we proudly collaborate with esteemed academic partners, including renowned steel research institutes, as an integral part of our long-standing technology network. This strategic alliance enables us to unlock groundbreaking material technologies for Vanadium, fueling the development of eco-friendly solutions and propelling the evolution of green technologies for a sustainable future.

At Vantage Alloys, our extensive client network features prominent industrial partners, including leading steelmakers, who collaborate to reinforce our unique „Market to Microstructure“ approach. This strategic synergy ensures that our research is not only tangible but also highly transferable to industry, bridging the gap between steel innovations and practical, real-world applications.

Breaking down a comprehensive database of vanadium-related journals into research narratives offers numerous benefits, as it transforms complex information into digestible, coherent stories that capture the essence of key findings. By presenting these seven core narratives as part of our research landscape, we create an engaging and accessible platform for clients and industrial partners to grasp the latest advancements in vanadium technology. This approach fosters informed decision-making, stimulates collaboration, and accelerates the integration of innovative solutions into industry applications, ultimately driving progress in the realm of sustainable technologies.

Narrative A-D: The uniqueness of vanadium derives from its atomic volume within face-centred cubic (fcc) and body-centred cubic  (bcc) crystals; larger in fcc and smaller in bcc when compared to other microalloying alloying elements, which creates large coherency strain fields and allows for larger „production feasible“ precipitate sizes, ensuring coherency is maintained via industrial processes. These misfit-induced strain fields from coherent nano-precipitates can lead to novel lean-alloyed nano-structured steels with a range of fascinating characteristics:

• Improved combinations of strength and formability in 3rd Gen AHSS without any ductility loss.
• Improved fire-resistance in lean-alloyed ferritic steels combined with modulus strengthening, which is achieved via coherency and misfit induced lattice-parameter changes within crystalline multi-phase systems.
• The prominence of coherent sub-stoichiometric V-precipitates in deep-trapping hydrogen.
• The coherency-induced strains influence the symmetry of nanodomains, which can be easily altered by small external stress or magnetic fields. This could pave a way towards novel electrical steels and new functional materials.
• The ability of coherency-induced lattice strain in bolstering fatigue performance during heat treatments such as nitriding.

Narrative E: The ability of vanadium precipitates, by function of their low lattice misfit, to act as nucleation points for intragranular Acicular Ferrite is well established for improving strength and ductility in long products, heavy plates, hot-rolled strip and weldments. However, the precise mechanisms are currently poorly understood and merit further studies to transfer this learning to Industry. 

Narrative F: This narrative is dedicated to specific high-performance alloys which often have larger amounts of Vanadium. For example, vanadium alloys are the only low activation structural materials (for fusion reactors) that is both non-ferromagnetic and ductile. Thus, they are promising for advanced fusion reactor structural material applications.

Narrative G: Recent studies have demonstrated a significant acceleration in the bainitic transformation time of various vanadium-alloyed carbide-free bainitic steels. Vanadium within nanostructured bainite also acts to refine the morphology of the retained austenite (RA) and delay the decomposition of RA during isothermal holding, which is congruent with developing highly wear resistant steels which can also resist impact wear and rolling contact fatigue. We are currently exploring industrial processes that can ensure such steels are economical to produce within established production flows.