Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining
Encyclopedia
The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) is a major UK engineering institution
Institution
An institution is any structure or mechanism of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a given human community...

 whose activities encompass the whole materials cycle, from exploration and extraction, through characterisation, processing, forming, finishing and application, to product recycling and land reuse. It exists to promote and develop all aspects of materials science
Materials science
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering. This scientific field investigates the relationship between the structure of materials at atomic or molecular scales and their macroscopic properties. It incorporates...

 and engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

, geology, mining and associated technologies, mineral and petroleum engineering
Petroleum engineering
Petroleum engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas. Subsurface activities are deemed to fall within the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry, which are the activities of...

 and extraction metallurgy, as a leading authority in the worldwide materials and mining community.

It is a registered charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

 governed by Royal Charter and in 2009-10 had a gross income of £6.4million.

Structure

Its headquarters are at Carlton House Terrace
Carlton House Terrace
Carlton House Terrace refers to a street in the St. James's district of the City of Westminster in London, England, and in particular to two terraces of white stucco-faced houses on the south side of the street overlooking St. James's Park. These terraces were built in 1827–32 to overall designs by...

 off Pall Mall
Pall Mall
-Places:* Pall Mall, urban downtown ares of Bendigo, Australia* Pall Mall, London, a street in the City of Westminster, London* Pall Mall, Tennessee, a small unincorporated community in Fentress County, Tennessee...

 in St James's in central London. The organisation also has its education, marketing and knowledge transfer
Knowledge transfer
Knowledge transfer in the fields of organizational development and organizational learning is the practical problem of transferring knowledge from one part of the organization to another part of the organization. Like Knowledge Management, Knowledge transfer seeks to organize, create, capture or...

 office in Grantham
Grantham
Grantham is a market town within the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It bestrides the East Coast Main Line railway , the historic A1 main north-south road, and the River Witham. Grantham is located approximately south of the city of Lincoln, and approximately east of Nottingham...

, and its finance office Stoke on Trent.

Members of the Institute come from a variety of backgrounds, from students to company chief executives. Members qualify for different grades of membership, ranging from Affiliate
Affiliate
An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.- Corporate structure :A corporation may be referred to as an affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid...

 to Fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...

 (FIMMM), depending on academic qualifications and professional experience. IOM3 has an individual membership of over 20,000, and represents a combination of scientific, technical and human resources which links industry, government, research and the academic world.

Around 40 UK 'local societies' are affiliated with the Institute, covering a wide range of disciplines including ceramics, composites, mining, packaging, polymers and metallurgy, and organising events throughout the year.

Divisions

  • Applied Earth Science - part of IMMa
  • Automotive
  • Biomedical Applications
  • British Composites Society - composite material
    Composite material
    Composite materials, often shortened to composites or called composition materials, are engineered or naturally occurring materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties which remain separate and distinct at the macroscopic or...

    s
  • Casting - for the castings industry
  • Ceramics Society - building material
    Building material
    Building material is any material which is used for a construction purpose. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, sand, wood and rocks, even twigs and leaves have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materials, many man-made products are in use, some more...

    s, ceramic
    Ceramic
    A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...

    s, cementitious materials
    Concrete
    Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...

    , clay
    Clay
    Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...

     technology, refactories, and whitewares
  • Electronics Applications
  • Energy Materials Group
  • IMMa: International Mining & Minerals Association
  • Iron & Steel Society
  • IWSc: The Wood Technology Society
  • Light Metals
  • Materials Science & Technology
  • Minerals Processing and Extractive Metallurgy - part of IMMa
  • Mining Technology - part of IMMa
  • Natural Materials Association - includes natural fibres
    Natural fiber
    Fibers or fibres are a class of hair-like materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to pieces of thread. They can be spun into filaments, thread, or rope. They can be used as a component of composite materials. They can also be matted into sheets to...

  • Packaging Society
  • Petroleum & Drilling Engineering - part of IMMa, and includes the Mining Institute of Scotland
  • Polymer Society - includes PVC
    Polyvinyl chloride
    Polyvinyl chloride, commonly abbreviated PVC, is a thermoplastic polymer. It is a vinyl polymer constructed of repeating vinyl groups having one hydrogen replaced by chloride. Polyvinyl chloride is the third most widely produced plastic, after polyethylene and polypropylene. PVC is widely used in...

     and rubber
  • Surface Engineering - corrosion
    Corrosion
    Corrosion is the disintegration of an engineered material into its constituent atoms due to chemical reactions with its surroundings. In the most common use of the word, this means electrochemical oxidation of metals in reaction with an oxidant such as oxygen...

     and adhesive
    Adhesive
    An adhesive, or glue, is a mixture in a liquid or semi-liquid state that adheres or bonds items together. Adhesives may come from either natural or synthetic sources. The types of materials that can be bonded are vast but they are especially useful for bonding thin materials...

    s
  • Sustainable Development Group

History

IOM3 was formed from the merger of the Institute of Materials and the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy in June 2002.

Former organisations

The Institute of Materials itself was a merger of The Institute of Metals, The Institute of Ceramics and The Plastics and Rubber Institute (known as the PRI) in 1993. The latter was itself a merger of the The Plastics Institute and the Institution of the Rubber Industry (known as the IRI) during the 1980s, a reflection of the declining UK rubber manufacturing industry during this period.

Its roots go back to the Iron and Steel Institute which was established in 1869. It received Royal Charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...

s in 1899 and 1975.

More recent mergers include the Institute of Packaging (2005), the Institute of Clay Technology (2006) the Institute of Wood Science (2009) and the Institute of Vitreous Enamellers (2010).

Function

The Institute ensures that courses in materials, minerals and mining technology and engineering conform to the standards for professional registration with the Engineering Council UK
Engineering Council UK
The Engineering Council is Britain's regulatory authority for registration of Chartered and Incorporated engineers and technicians, holding a register of these and providing advice to students, engineers, employers and academic institutions on the standards for registration and procedures for...

, establishes codes of practice and monitors legislative matters affecting members' professional interests.

The professional development programme run by the Institute helps contribute to members' career enhancement towards senior grades of membership and Chartered Engineer
Chartered Engineer (UK)
In the United Kingdom, a Chartered Engineer is an engineer registered with Engineering Council UK . Contemporary Chartered Engineers are master's degree-qualified and have gained professional competencies through training and experience...

 (CEng) status.

Members benefit from reduced rates for the Institute's many books, journals and conferences and from access to the Institute's Information Services. These include extensive library resources as well as a team of materials experts who provide consultancy services to Institute members, and to companies who have joined the Institute's Industrial Affiliate Scheme.

Activities

The Institute provides a range of activities and initiatives to benefit the materials and minerals community.

The Institute's educational activities aim to promote the materials discipline to younger generations by allowing access, through the Schools Affiliate Scheme, to a range of educational resources and materials. The Institute has very close links with schools and colleges and is responsible for accrediting university and college courses and industrial training schemes. The Education Department offers teachers courses and teaching resources on materials, as well as careers advice for students. Many Institute publications such as definitive textbooks are available to students at reduced prices. The Institute also offers a series of grants (money) and bursaries to encourage students, and organises events such as the Young Persons' Lecture Competition.

Publications

The Institute's trading subsidiary, IOM Communications Ltd, is responsible for producing the Institute's many books and journals. These include the members' journals, Materials World magazine
Materials World
Materials World is a magazine specifically devoted to the engineering materials cycle, from mining and extraction, through processing and application, to recycling and recovery...

, The Packaging Professional, Clay Technology, and Wood Focus, and a range of learned journals published by Maney Publishing on behalf of the Institute such as Ironmaking and Steelmaking Journal, Surface Engineering
Surface engineering
Surface engineering is the sub-discipline of materials science which deals with the surface of solid matter. It has applications to chemistry, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering ....

, Powder Metallurgy
Powder metallurgy
Powder metallurgy is the process of blending fine powdered materials, pressing them into a desired shape , and then heating the compressed material in a controlled atmosphere to bond the material . The powder metallurgy process generally consists of four basic steps: powder manufacture, powder...

, Corrosion Engineering, Science and Technology, International Materials Reviews and Materials Science and Technology.

Advice

The Materials Information Service is a service of the Institute which has been giving advice to industry on the selection and use of materials since 1988. This is now part of the Institute's Information Services which includes technical enquiry and library services for the materials, minerals and mining sectors, an information help desk, regionally based advisors and related services. Companies can gain access to the Institute's information resources by joining its Industrial Affiliate Scheme.

Conferences

The Institute's Conference Department organises conferences, events and exhibitions with the Institute's technical committees to help keep members and other delegates informed of the latest developments within the materials, minerals and mining arena. The highlight of the conference calendar is the bi-annual Materials Congress.

Awards

The Bessemer Gold Medal is an annual prize awarded by the Institute for "outstanding services to the steel industry". It was established and endowed by Sir Henry Bessemer in 1874.
It was first awarded to Isaac Lowthian Bell
Isaac Lowthian Bell
Sir Lowthian Bell, 1st Baronet FRS was a Victorian ironmaster and Liberal Party politician from Washington, County Durham, in the north of England.He was the son of Thomas Bell and his wife Katherine Lowthian....

in 1874. The 2011 award was to Ian Christmas.

Publications

The Institute produces several magazine titles, Materials World, The Packaging Professional, Wood Focus and Clay Technology. The titles are available to members or by subscription.

Video clips

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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