Johnstown, PA, April 2, 2009 – Juan J. Valencia, Ph.D., Principal Metallurgist at Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC), and Peter N. Quested, National Physical Laboratory, have written an article that is included in the ASM Handbook Volume 15: Casting, part of a widely used series of reference books for metallurgists, manufacturing engineers and materials scientists.

Dr. Valencia’s article is a resource for those needing to understand and evaluate the thermophysical properties of metallic alloys in the foundry and numerical modeling of the casting process. “It’s a real honor to contribute to this manual,” said Dr. Valencia. “The ASM Handbook is like a bible for metallurgists and materials scientists in both industry and academia.” His efforts included working over a three-year period to evaluate, analyze and assemble the information and then to write the article.

“Congratulations to Dr. Valencia on this accomplishment,” said Edward J. Sheehan, Jr., CTC President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are proud of this and all of Dr. Valencia’s contributions to CTC and to the materials science industry as a whole. That such a prestigious publication solicited our input and accepted this article is a testament to CTC’s leadership in the technical community.”
ASM International, formerly known as the American Society for Metals, provides several information resources in addition to its best known, the ASM Handbook. The society has been in existence since 1913, and through the years has expanded its scope beyond metals to include other engineered materials such as composites, plastics, ceramics and electronic materials.

Dr. Valencia has more than 30 years of experience in diverse fundamental and applied materials research, as well as metallurgical engineering. At CTC, Dr. Valencia contributes to the analysis of materials, processing-microstructure relationships in metalworking processes and component performance. He provides technical assistance and advice in metals science, fracture analysis, metals processing and problem solving for various metalworking projects. In addition to his work in the steelmaking and casting industry, Dr. Valencia has taught at the graduate and undergraduate level in Mexico, and conducted extensive practical and fundamental research at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Valencia has co-authored more than 80 technical reports and more than 60 technical papers. He is currently working on a chapter for Volume 22 of the ASM Handbook on thermophysical properties for the solidification processing of metallic materials.

Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) is an independent, nonprofit, applied scientific research and development professional services organization providing innovative management and technology-based solutions to government and industry. As a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, CTC's primary purpose and programs are to undertake applied scientific research and development activities that serve the public interest. For more information, visit www.ctc.com.