77th ANNUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF WELDING AND INTERNATIONAL WELDING AND JOINING CONFERENCE

This year the 77th Annual Assembly of the International Institute of Welding and the International Conference on Welding and Joining took place from July 7 to 12 on the island of Rhodes in Greece at the Rhodes Palace Hotel and Convention Center. This prestigious international event brought together experts from around the world to discuss the latest developments and innovations in welding technologies. Prominent industry representatives and researchers shared their findings and discussed future trends in the field. Almost 1000 participants from 51 countries also had the opportunity to attend seminars and networking events to deepen their knowledge and make new contacts. Such events are extremely important for Ukrainian scientists, especially under the conditions of modern challenges that the scientific community of Ukraine is facing. Participation in international conferences, such as the Annual Assembly of the International Institute of Welding, provides an opportunity to exchange experience with colleagues from around the world, and to become familiar with the latest scientific achievements and technologies. For Ukrainian researchers, this is also an important step towards integration into the world scientific community, establishment of new international contacts and involvement in the joint projects. Years of pandemic and military aggression in the territory of Ukraine significantly limited the opportunities for direct communication with colleagues from other countries. Therefore, the chance to participate in the 77th IIW Annual Assembly and the International Conference was used to the maximum.

Thanks to the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, CRDF Global, the team of the International Institute of Welding and the Greek Institute of Welding, the Ukrainian delegation, led by Illia Klochkov, Academic Secretary of the E.O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, representative of Ukraine in IIW, Cand. of Sci. (Eng.) went to Greece. The delegation also included Maksym Iurzhenko, the Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Dr. of Sci. (Eng.), Head of the Plastics Welding Department and Sviatoslav Motrunich, Cand. of Sci. (Eng.), Senior Staff Scientist of the Department of Welded Structure Strength.
The heat that prevailed this July in Kyiv is difficult to compare with that on the island of Rhodes. However, in the halls where this scientific event was held, the atmosphere was even hotter: reports, speeches, presentations, discussions on the sidelines, meetings with old colleagues and new acquaintances — all this created a unique atmosphere of the event. Here are the official statistics of registered participants:

• full members — 466;
• full participants (young specialists) — 147;
• full participants (students) — 205;
• participants of the International Conference — 25;
• participants of the International Conference (students and young specialists) — 17;
• accompanying persons — 68;
• participants of the Symposium on “Intelligent Manufacturing” — 11.

Germany was the most represented this year with 155 participants. It is followed by China — 132, Greece — 128, Japan — 86, USA — 81, South Korea — 68.
The Ukrainian delegation, together with representatives of the Institute, who presented their reports online, consisted of ten scientists. They were Maksym Khokhlov, who presented the report on “Thermomechanica processes in zones of FSW butt joints of sheet magnesium alloy”, Svitlana Maksymova — “Influence of Ge and In on the structure and thermodynamic characteristics of high-entropy MnCoNiCu alloys”, Oleksandr Yarovytsyn — “On the issue of probability assessment and prevention of the occurrence of the “immersion plasticity cracking” mechanism in the conditions of the process of 3D multilayer deposition with a welding arc on nickel and cobalt alloys”, Serhiy Maksymov — “Effectiveness of application of the pulsed nature of arc burning in wet underwater welding”, Serhiy Schwab — “Production and application of powder of a biomedical titanium alloy of Ti–Zr–Nb system in metal flux-cored wire for WAAM technology”, Roman Selin — “Narrow-gap welding of titanium alloy samples with a width of 45–60 mm by a controlled magnetic field”, Yevgenia Chvertko — “Welding of rod artistic constructions”.
One of the main areas of PWI activity is to attract young scientists to the technology sector, to promote their professional development and integration into the international scientific and technical community. The Institute recognizes the importance of training a new generation of researchers and welding engineers capable of not only supporting but also promoting advanced technologies in the field of welding and materials science. For this purpose, PWI supported the participation of its young talents in the online format in the meetings of IIW Working Commissions. Thanks to such support, young Ukrainian scientists had the opportunity to participate in the discussion of the latest scientific and technical achievements.
Members of the Ukrainian delegation, who had the opportunity to attend the event on the Greek island, presented the following reports: Maksym Iurzhenko — “High-speed welding of polymer materials”, Sviatoslav Motrunich — “High-cycle fatigue of 3D-printed titanium alloy TA 15 produced by electron beam additive manufacturing”, “Manufacture of a high-hardness, high-entropy, tantalum-doped eutectic alloy using arc additive manufacturing” and “Structural integrity of 3D-printed Ti–6.5Al–1Mo–1V titanium alloy billets”. It should be noted that Sviatoslav Motrunich presented reports both at the meeting of the relevant Working Commission and at the International Conference on Welding and Joining.
As part of IIW activities, a tradition has been established long ago of honoring those who have achieved significant results in welding and related areas. These awards received their names in honor of outstanding personalities who were the founders of IIW or made a significant contribution to the development and implementation of scientific and technical achievements in the field of welding, joining and related processes. Usually, the award ceremony takes place during the official opening ceremony of the event. In 2024, the award winners were:

• Fellow of the IIW, awarded to Károly Jármai, Patricio Mendez, Gerhard Posch, Volker Schöppner, Chuansong Wu and Yixiong Wu;
• Evgeny Paton Award — Suck-Joo Na;
• Arthur Smith Award — David Fink;
• Yoshiaki Arata Award, — Boian Alexandrov;
• Thomas Medal — Teresa Melfi;
• Chris Smallbone Award — Emmanuel Afrane Gyasi;
• Walter Edström Medal — John C. Lippold;
• Henry Granjon Category A Award — Rui Yu;
• Henry Granjon Category B Award — Derek Shaffer;
• Henry Granjon Category C Award — Aravindh Nammalvar Raja;
• Halil Kaya Gedik Award — Sergio Amancio
• Welding in the World Best Paper Award, Category A: Welding Processes and Additive Manufacturing awarded to Florian Muller;
• Welding in the World Best Paper award, Category B: Materials and Metallurgy awarded to Nellikode Savyasachi;
• Welding in the World Best Paper Award, Category C: Structural Integrity, Design and Fitness for Service awarded to Kalle Lipiäinen;
• André Leroy Prize — Guy Brooks & Michael Pitt.

Almost 30 years ago, our Institute established one of IIW most prestigious awards — the Evgeny Paton Prize. According to the results of a secret vote, which was held among the representatives of member countries of the International Institute of Welding, this year’s winner among many applicants was Suck-Joo Na, Professor of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. The award was presented to the laureate by Illia Klochkov, Academic Secretary of the E.O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

For its part, the International Institute of Welding recognized a Ukrainian representative for her significant contribution to the activities of the governing bodies of this international organization during 2021–2024. The award was given to Yevgenia Chvertko, former IIW Vice-President, who, with her tireless work, contributed to the strengthening of Ukraine’s position in this organization.
Representatives of the Ukrainian delegation held a series of meetings in Rhodes — from short greetings to long, substantive negotiations. Each of these meetings had its own importance, as they created the basis for establishing new professional contacts and strengthening the already existing partnerships. We sincerely hope that these negotiations will bring mutually beneficial results for both parties.
I would especially like to note the meeting with David Lake, President of Weld Australia organization, the head of the organization, which at a very difficult time for Ukraine initiated support for us within the international welding community, thereby helping and continuing to help the promotion of the Institute, and Ukraine as a whole, in the international arena. We are grateful to Weld Australia for both significant financial support and willingness to cooperate within bilateral and multilateral agreements.
In Rhodes, the Ukrainian delegation actively promoted the activities of the Institute. Particular attention was paid to the presentation of the International Conference “Welding and Related Technologies 2024”, which will be held from October 7 to 10, 2024 in the picturesque city of Yaremche (Ukraine). This event should become a unique platform for the exchange of experience between scientists, engineers and industry specialists, promote the development of international cooperation, as well as popularization of the latest achievements in the field of welding and related technologies. The Conference has already aroused considerable interest among potential participants from different countries of the world, which makes it one of the key events of the year in the field of welding in Ukraine.
This year’s meeting in Rhodes became an ideal place for a substentative exchange and professional communication around the topic of welding and related fields. If we summarize the work of the 77th Annual Assembly of the International Institute of Welding and the International Conference on Welding and Joining, then, according to official information:

• in the period from July 7 to July 12, 2024, 18 meetings of IIW Commissions and Working Groups were held;
• at the International Conference “Energy Infrastructures and Transportations across the seas”, held on July 11 and 12, 2024, 87 presentations were made and 17 posters were presented;
• social events included an opening ceremony and awards ceremony, an Ice Breaking event for young professionals, a welcome reception, a Greek night and a
• closing ceremony at the gala banquet;
• presentation of sponsors’ products took place;
• a photo exhibition of a collection of works of art made using the welding methods was held.

And what next… Next we will look forward to 2025, when the 78th IIW Annual Assembly and International Conference on Welding and Joining is scheduled to take place in Magazzina del Cotone in Genoa, Italy, from June 22 to 27.