R N (Nick) Younger MA FREng
23rd December 1934 - 7th April 2010
President of the CIE 1983-84
At the time of his retirement Nick Younger was Technical Director of Davy International based in Stockton. His first job after graduation at Cambridge University was with TWI where he made significant contributions to understanding failure due to cracking of welded joints in stainless steels. He moved to the Davy Corporation in 1962 and worked on the new metallurgical processes then being developed or which were in the early stages of industrial application, such as continuous casting and direct smelting of ores.
In 1968 Nick left Davy for RTZ, and for the next seven years was engaged in the development of superplastic sheet based on the zinc/aluminium eutectic, which led to the production of super-plastically formed components for industry.
He returned to Davy in 1975 and remained there throughout the rest of his career, becoming widely known for successfully driving through to commercial application developments such as coal based ore reduction (e.g. the DRC and HISMELT processes), direct casting of wide steel strip in conjunction with the Korean company POSCO, and Transverse Flux Induction Heating of strip developed with British Steel.
Nick was a devoted family man who loved choral music and country pursuits. He believed passionately that the place for engineers was in industry where they could make a difference to the world and he did his best to ensure recognition of their contribution to our lives. One of Nature's gentlemen, his quiet and courteous manner hid a shrewd mind and sound technical ability. He was a delightful companion who will be very widely missed, judging from the many who attended his funeral service in the choir of Ripon Cathedral.
