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Department of Materials Processing, Faculty of Engineering, Tohoku University
Ryuzo Watanabe was born on July 7, 1940, in Japan. He was an emeritus professor at Tohoku University in the Department of Materials Processing, and an early investigator of sintering concepts in Japan, Prof. Watanabe was initially working under the guidance of professor Yoshimichi Masuda. Their landmark study published in Japanese in 1971 and English in 1972, details microstructure evolution during sintering for a small iron powder over 5800 minutes in the body-centered cubic ferrite structure.
Watanabe was instrumental in the Japan Institute of Metals and their extensive publication program. His research innovations included gas chromatography analysis during sintering, direct video imaging, particulate composites such as boride reinforced tool steels, functional gradients, metal injection molding, and the use of pick-place robots to form idealized green microstructures. After his retirement, Akari Kawasaki took over program leadership.
He organized many events in Japan, organized the Sintering 1987 conference, and organized an Iron Powder Metallurgy conference in 1999, with companion proceedings to both meetings. He was also a member of the International Institute for the Science of Sintering.
taken from Sintering Science: An Historical Perspective by Randall German