Call for Papers
The American Galvanizers Association (AGA) is hosting this year's TechForum in Omaha, NE at the Omaha Marriott Downtown on October 8-10th, 2024. TechForum offers technical presentations and discussion topics common to the batch hot-dip galvanizing process, and is an excellent opportunity for peers to meet and exchange ideas on both a business and social level.
To make this event a success, we need your help submitting papers and finding speakers to present on topics, case studies, lessons learned, and technical advancements relevant to our industry. If you would like to present at our upcoming TechForum or recommend a presenter, please submit an abstract for consideration by Friday, June 21st. Abstracts should be emailed to Technical Director Alana Fossa at [email protected].
Conference Theme
TechForum features a conference program of papers based on a focused topic or theme within the hot-dip galvanizing process. The TechForum theme rotates every five years according to the schedule below. Ideally, submitted papers will address technological advancements, studies, Lessons Learned, EHS, quality, optimization, and plant management topics within the year's theme. One day of the TechForum will always be set aside for non-theme topics that are relatively timely in nature.
- 2024 (Omaha, NE) - Pre-treatment
- 2025 (Dallas, TX) - Pre-Process Bay & Material Handling
- 2026 (TBD) - Admin & Customer Service
- 2027 (TBD) - Finishing & Inspection
For 2024, the AGA membership has expressed great interest in papers addressing the following topics within the focus area of "Pre-treatment"
- "How I solved ___ cleaning issue" (stencil ink, pipe coating, paint, adherent oxides, etc.)
- "Things we've tried to mitigate acid attack on the building/equipment"
- Advancements in acid regeneration units
- Health & safety in the pretreatment environment
- Chemicals labeling/storage/disposal
- Heating coils for preflux (materials, longevity, maintenance)
- Heating coils for caustic (materials, longevity, maintenance)
- Heating coils for acid (materials, longevity, maintenance)
- Reducing heating costs of pretreatment tanks
- Degreasing technology & advancements
- Acid pickling technology & advancements
- Flux technology & advancements
- Chemicals testing in house vs. outside lab
- Pretreatment bath additives
- Pretreatment bath maintenance
- Co-products (ferrous sulfate heptahydrate, etc.) - handling, downstream use, management
- Experience using the Kleingarn/Burnett curves
- Tank/liner options & advancements
- Enclosed pretreatment areas
- Experience with enclosed pretreatment tunnel or scrubber
- Lessons learned: near misses in the pretreatment area
TechForum Submission/Speaker Guidelines
The following guidelines provide more detail on how to submit your abstract and what’s allowed in the presentation and required of the speaker:
- Abstracts for consideration by the TechForum Committee are due by June 21st to Alana Fossa at [email protected].
- Include name(s), company, job title, presentation title, and abstract.
- Abstracts should summarize the presentation content in paragraph form (100-200 words), or an outline form is acceptable.
- Presentation slots are scheduled for 30 minutes maximum. It is good to leave time for questions, so suggested length is 20-25 minutes.
- Presentation content may not contain any negative reference to any AGA member companies or companies eligible for membership. This excludes commenting on competitors to the hot-dip galvanizing process.
- Presentation should be technical or informative in nature, and not a marketing/sales presentation.
- Any materials to be handed out by the speaker must be reviewed and approved by AGA staff.