Swansea success story

A Swansea success is Osprey Metals. It began 25 years ago when three of the university'smetallurgy students came up with anew way of forming metal.

They found that by atomising molten metal into a fine spray and directing the spray on to a collecting surface they could create strong metals more cheaply than by existing processes.

Twenty-five yearson, the business they established to exploit their discovery, Osprey Metals, is licensing the technology worldwide, to firms including Pechiney of France, Sumitomo of Japan and Germany's Mannesmann Demag.

The resulting components are found in Mercedes car engines and Rolls-Royceaircraft engines.

Gwyn Brooks, one of the three founders, said: "We have now got an extensiveworldwide patentportfolio and asubstantial volumeof expertise." He is working with Oxford University and withuniversities in Japan, Taiwan, Korea andthe United Stateson developing the technology further.

This summer Dr Brooks is taking the technology to America following a request from the US Defence Advanced Projects Agency, which is keen to see spray forming used in the US aerospace and defence industries.