SFSA Casteel Reporter – April 2026

Raymond Monroe will be unavailable for an extended period due to a medical matter. During this time, we appreciate your understanding and support. For any immediate needs, please contact Ryan Moore, rmoore@sfsa.org.

Cracking Class

Fixing cracks that appear during the production of steel castings comes down to knowing what caused them and then understanding the physics to resolve them. Rod Duncan presented “Troubleshooting Cracks in Steel Castings” at the 1997 T&O workshop and conference – it has served as one of the most common references for members since.  At this class in Birmingham, AL on June 9-11, Tom Stevens will teach about cracking, including the technical explanation and alloy dependencies, from his “Steel Casting Technology” book.  Tom will be joined by Ken Murphy who will share his experience with under riser cracking. SFSA members can register here: https://sfsa.site-ym.com/event/CrackingClass2026. 

Research Review

Please make plans to participate in the annual SFSA Research Review on July 7-9. Again, this year our meeting will be held in Rosemont, IL.

The Review will cover the latest Carbon & Low Alloy and High Alloy steel casting research under the AMC and STAR programs. It’s also a great opportunity to interact with researchers and help provide industry guidance. The event helps evaluate our research portfolio to select R&D projects to be featured at the National T&O Conference.

More details on the schedule and Design Day will be shared soon.

Please note that registration is required and must be completed by June 22.

For questions, please contact Caelan Kennedy at ckennedy@sfsa.org

Hotel Information
Embassy Suites by Hilton Chicago O’Hare Rosemont

5500 North River Road

Rosemont, IL 60018

• Group Rate:                              $169.00/night
• Self-Parking:                            $18.00 (reduced rate)
• Reservation cutoff date:         June 23, 2026
• Reservations by phone:          1-800-315-1061 Group Code: SFS
• Online Reservation:                  Online Reservation

Additional Keel Bars Needed

To support the development of the SFSA carbon & low alloy atlas, we are looking for additional standard keel block legs: 

• 1010, 1045
• 4120, 4130, 4140
• Any carbon level for the 13XX, 46XX, or 51XX alloy families

SFSA is developing a carbon & low alloy atlas to show the effect of alloying elements and heat treating on the mechanical properties and microstructure of low alloy steels. As-cast and bars from same heat would be preferred, and if you can pour at least 10 from the same heat that is even better.  Heat chemistry or mechanicals would be appreciated, but not required.  Please contact Caelan (ckennedy@sfsa.org) or Tory (tory@sfsa.org) for shipping details. 

SFSA Business Trends

To benchmark your facility with other steel foundry members, SFSA encourages you to participate in the monthly SFSA business trends survey – only participants have access to the results. The quarterly data will no longer be included in the Casteel Reporter. Please complete the business trends survey for March 2026: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SFSA_BTB_Mar26. Survey results are provided to participants the following month.

SFSA Foundation Scholarships

Will you have summer interns this year? If so, please inform them of these scholarship opportunities. They’ll appreciate you sharing these scholarships with them.

About the Scholarships
The steel casting industry is focused on building the next generation of leaders. As part of this effort, the Steel Founders’ Society of America (SFSA) Foundation encourages companies to hire student interns and recognizes the important work they do.

The Foundation offers $2,000 scholarships to student interns who worked at an SFSA member foundry in 2026. These scholarships reward students for their contributions and support their future in the industry.

Scholarship Opportunities

• Schumo Scholarship
  Created in memory of Robert M. Schumo, a former SFSA president. His contributions helped establish the Foundation.
• Peaslee Scholarship
  Created in honor of Dr. Kent Peaslee, a leader in steelmaking education.
  Note: Projects for this scholarship must focus on melting or refining.

Who Can Apply
To be eligible, interns must:

• Have worked at an SFSA member foundry during 2026
• Have been responsible for a specific project (not just assisting others)
• Focus on melting or refining (Peaslee Scholarship only)
• Submit a written paper and a PowerPoint presentation about their project

All submissions are reviewed by a committee of experienced industry professionals.

Recognition
Winners will be recognized at the SFSA National Technical & Operating Conference in Chicago on December 11, 2026.

Each winner will be expected to present their project at the conference.

How to Apply
To apply, interns must:

1. Complete the registration form
2. Prepare a paper and PowerPoint about their project
3. Get approval from their supervisor
4. Email the paper and PowerPoint to Renee Mueller at rmueller@sfsa.org by August 14, 2026

Cast in Steel Competition

The 8th Annual Cast in Steel Competition was an unforgettable experience!

The competition and awards ceremony took place from Wednesday, April 15 through Friday, April 17 at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Teams took center stage as they put their axes through a series of demanding challenges, all under the careful evaluation of our expert judges. Each piece was put to the test in practical, hands-on scenarios, highlighting the strength, design, and skill behind every creation. The competition pushed students to showcase their very best work.

This year’s event brought together 62 teams from 36 universities, supported by 38 dedicated industry mentors. With over 300 students competing and a lively crowd of supporters in attendance, the atmosphere was full of excitement and energy throughout the entire event.

Strength, craftsmanship, and spirit united in a one-of-a-kind celebration of engineering excellence.

Grand Prize

• University of Wisconsin-Madison “Mad Badger Metalcasters”

Best Sand Casting

• University of Alabama at Birmingham “Blazing Steel”

Best Investment Casting

• University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee “Milwaukee Molten”

Best Performance

• University of Wisconsin-Madison “Mad Badger Metalcasters”

Best Design and Process

• Trine University “Steel Thunder”

Best Authentic Horseman’s Axe

• University of Wisconsin-Madison “Mad-Town Axemen”

Best Video

• Georgia Southern “Partner in Crime”

Horsemen’s Axes Online Auction Event

Would you like to display one of the incredible Horseman’s axes in your home or office?

The online auction will begin at 9:00 am CST on Wednesday, May 6 and end at 7:30 pm CST on Wednesday, May 13.

All proceeds from the auction will go directly to all the participating schools.

Casting Dreams

This year’s program reached an impressive audience, with more than 1,200 students ages 5 to 18 participating through 35 organizations and schools from across the country. The creativity and imagination on display made a lasting impression, and both visitors and judges were truly amazed by the talent each student showcased.

With participation spanning so many organizations and schools, Casting Dreams continues to spark interest and excitement in the next generation of casting talent.

Below are this year’s winners in the scratch and custom mold categories. Congratulations to all the students!

Scratch Mold Winners

Custom Mold Winners

Market News

ITR reported that the U.S. private sector employment growth has been revised down to 0.5% for 2025, reflecting muted job gains. Losses in manufacturing, warehousing, and business services are being offset by continued strength in healthcare and education, while demographic constraints keep the labor market tight. Capital goods orders are outperforming expectations, indicating sustained business investment driven by both higher volumes and rising prices. Geopolitical tensions continue to introduce oil price volatility, creating near-term cost pressures for fuel, fertilizer, and food. Overall, economic activity remains positive across most sectors, with growth expected to stay in the mild-to-moderate range through 2026.

The outlook on the overall manufacturing conditions  remains unchanged from the prior month –  trending toward mild-to-moderate growth. Construction machinery, defense equipment, and civilian aircraft production remain strong while heavy-duty truck production recovery remains delayed due to elevated inventories and weak sales.

Commentary – Worth A Second Look

This year’s Cast in Steel competition was the largest to date and a clear success. Created by Raymond, the program has had a significant impact in demonstrating the value and relevance of our industry to future generations. The following is a previously published commentary from Raymond outlining his original vision for the program.

Cast in Steel

Steel Casting producers know that the future depends on the young people that join our industry.  SFSA has been active since 2019 with Cast in Steel to reach out to university students.  Cast in Steel is like a video game.  We do not ask students if they are interested in learning steel casting technology because we are an important industry and would be a creative and good career.  We ask if they would like to make an axe as a casting for a challenging competition.

The students who form teams to compete are self-selected.  We did not do interviews or personal evaluations of the students to pick likely prospects.  The teams form from young people who want to make and compete by making their axe as a casting.  Like a game, they know the final stage they need to get to but are uncertain of what the path to success looks like.

They ask questions like what is required for the cast axe to qualify.  The response is that they need to do the research and justify why their design and item is a Viking axe.  They need to design their casting, so they need to know how to create a solid model.  So, they need to learn how to solid model their design.  Then they need to decide how to cast it.  We require an industrial partner that can help but their help or advice is not required, the team needs to use them as a key resource.  A university faculty person is required but also has no required role.  The team is responsible to do the work of design and manufacture.  They need to choose the process, material, produce the casting, heat treat, finish, assemble and test it.

The requirements are open ended and the teams must learn and be creative to make the axe.  They need to explain their project in technical report, capture it in video, make it as the required axe using casting to add value and remain authentic.  Finally, it must pass a series of performance tests that are critical with judges who are world class experts.

In talking with the student teams after the competition and asking them about the competition, they routinely related that their original interest was in being able to be in the competition but that the value was in learning how to make their casting.  They would say that this competition was the richest learning experience they had in their time at college.  They would insist that learning how to make the casting and overcoming their setbacks and overcoming unexpected challenges was thrilling.  They would emphasize creativity and joy in persevering to success.  This allowed me to tell them that we who make steel castings get to do this every day.

The students’ excitement and involvement made the film crew and DoD sponsors thrilled to capture this for our production.  This is hoped to be a major way we can help change the culture but especially to help these young people find a calling in life that they enjoy and contribute.

One observation from my oldest grandson who is supporting our social media outreach and came to the competition caused me to change my rhetoric but not my message.  I know we need these young people and that they would find that we are making things that are important in a community that cares.  But if I ask them to join us because we need them, it sounds like a senior businessman recruiting to fill a job.

Thinking through, how can I shift the focus from our need to their interest?

My approach was to begin with the assertion, you were made to do something important.  It is your responsibility to find the best way for you to contribute to the people in our neighborhood, state, nation and world.  Your purpose is to make a difference, we are all supposed to.  You know from this competition that our community making steel castings is doing something important that is needed and needs people like you.  You need to find your purpose and we want to help you explore whether what you can do fits with us.  We need your creativity, energy, ability and effort to do our part in the world.

This is what I think we all want, and this message seemed to resonate with them. This year’s competition brought together an impressive 58 teams from 36 universities, all mentored by 38 dedicated industry partners, to take on the challenge of casting a horseman’s axe. More than  300 students participated, with over 100 guests joining across both the competition and the awards ceremony.

Raymond