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Warwick to benefit from £2.54 million funding into “phenomenal” metamaterials

A £2.54m grant will enable a new network driving research into metamaterials, headed up by a researcher from The University of Warwick.

Metamaterials have phenomenal potential. They are artificial 3D structures comprised of at least two different materials. This combination and the structure give metamaterials properties beyond those of the materials used to make them. These properties may be electromagnetic, acoustic, magnetic, mechanical/structural, thermal, or chemical.

Metamaterials could transform our economy in a digital age, helping to address society’s challenges by contributing to manufacturing in areas of sustainability, health care, communications, defence and security, computation techniques, and the space and aviation industries.

Now, thanks to funding by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), a branch of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), 13 universities and five organisations will lead on enhancing the UK’s capabilities in creating novel and innovative metamaterials.

Picture shows UK Metamaterials NetworkPlus graphicThe UK Metamaterials NetworkPlus will build on the work of the UK Metamaterials Network, which was established in 2021. It will be co-led by Dr Claire Dancer, Reader, WMG at The University of Warwick, and Professor Alastair Hibbins, Director of the University of Exeter’s Centre for Metamaterial Research and Innovation, alongside a team of co-project leads from across the UK.

The EPSRC grant will run for over four years, from 1st March 2024, and will help develop game-changing breakthroughs. It will build the UK’s skills pipeline, driving through generation-after-next technology and high-value products.

Warwick will lead on researching manufacturing challenges for metamaterials, such as co-processing challenging combinations of materials and establishing routes for scaled-up production of metamaterials currently made by non-scalable processes, building on the University’s strong expertise across the materials manufacturing sector and existing High Value Manufacturing Catapult activities at WMG.

Dr Dancer said: “We’re really excited by this additional funding from EPSRC. Not only are we now able to continue supporting our community, but we are now going to be able to offer pump-prime funding for a number of priority projects that are strategically important to us. That’s across fundamental science, manufacturing, and industrially relevant research – ultimately strengthening the role that metamaterials play in the UK’s science and technology portfolio, driving further investment into our area, and ensuring the UK benefits from our academic excellence on the global stage.”

Professor Alastair Hibbins, project lead of the NetworkPlus, and Director of the University of Exeter’s Centre for Metamaterial Research and Innovation said: “The scope of metamaterials is huge; metamaterials as a concept provides the opportunities to control information and energy through careful structuring of conventional materials. But of course, ‘information’ and ‘energy’ are very general terms and cover an enormous range of devices; what we really mean is heat, fluid-flow, light, vibration, sound, radar, relevant to technologies such as communication, computing, electronics, health, sustainability, and defence. This breadth in science and application has meant that the excellence in our academic community has been incredibly diverse but not joined-up.

“For the last few years, Dr Claire Dancer from WMG at The University of Warwick, and I have co-led the Network, and with the funding and support from EPSRC and The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), we’ve been working incredibly hard to forge a new UK ecosystem for metamaterials where we work together to support each other, and drive work into areas that require multidisciplinary approaches to solve global challenges.” 

The UK Metamaterials NetworkPlus will drive an increase to UK research in this vital technology area. It will bring together experts from academia, industry, and government to accelerate progress towards the UK’s technological priorities. It has an essential role to play in maintaining and growing UK leadership in discovery science on the global stage.

The NetworkPlus will formally launch at the Metamaterials UK Conference and Forum 19th-23rd May 2024.

For more information, visit: http://metamaterials.network

About the UK Metamaterials NetworkPlus

The UK Metamaterials NetworkPlus aims to develop the UK’s potential as a thriving, innovation driven, research and industry base. To do this the NetworkPlus aims to:

 

- Bring together the current and next generation of academic, start-up and industry leaders in the UK, and open the field beyond its traditional boundaries;

- Provide a reliable nexus for information, experts and cutting-edge science and technology;

- Support pilot and explorative projects to initiate research areas which are new to the UK or strategically important;

- Support the development of close links between government, academics and industry, providing a strong advocacy for metamaterials activities;

- Work to create a strong regulatory framework and shape international norms and standards;

- Showcase metamaterials potential, growing its potential in the UK.

 

Co-project leads for the award are based at the University of Exeter, the University of Warwick, the University of Cambridge, the University of Sheffield, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the University of St Andrews.

 

Members of the leadership team are also based at Sheffield Hallam, Queen Mary University, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), MBDA Systems, Imperial College London, Manchester Metropolitan, the University of Nottingham, M. Ventures, QinetiQ, Durham University, and the National Physics Laboratory (NPL).

 

Media contact

University of Warwick press office contact:

Annie Slinn 07876876934

Communications Officer | Press & Media Relations | University of Warwick Email: annie.slinn@warwick.ac.uk

Mon 04 Mar 2024, 13:38 | Tags: Materials Partnerships Research

WMG announces new partnership with global engineering company

WMG, at the University of Warwick, has announced a new two year research partnership focusing on sustainable high-performance sealing materials.

Researchers at WMG’s Link opens in a new windowInternational Institute for Nanocomposites Manufacturing (IINM), led by Dr Chaoying Wan, will be working with experts at James Walker to develop the next generation of sealing compounds which will be compliant with future per- and poly- fluoroAlkyl substances (PFAS) regulations.

In February 2023, the European Chemicals Agency announced a proposal for the European Economic Area that will effectively lead to a ban on all PFAS materials, due to their persistence in the environment.

This research project will use high quantity techniques to develop and identify novel elastomer compounds that comply with proposed PFAS regulations, for use in critical industrial applications drawing on WMG’s expertise in elastomer and polymer technology.

The new technologies developed will have a high impact on a wide range of industries from transportation, oil/gas, semiconductor to hydrogen storagePicture of a wind turbine and wind turbines.

Conventional high performance sealing compounds rely on PFAS, as these materials are resistant to extremes of temperature and aggressive chemicals. PFAS are essential to the semi-conductor, aerospace, petrochemical, defence and nuclear industries for example, and there are currently no suitable replacement materials available. Alternative sealing materials are urgently needed to substitute PFAS.

Dr Mike Eason, Technical and Quality Director at James Walker commented: "Industrial dependence on PFAS elastomers is a global issue with supply chain impact already seen. I am delighted that we will work with Dr Wan and her team to identify and develop materials which will help industry be compliant with the proposed regulations. This partnership will accelerate James Walker’s development of seal materials for critical industry. WMG has small scale, advanced, mixing capability, with knowhow regarding nanofillers and polymer science that will allow James Walker to rapidly design, manufacture and screen bench-scale test formulations.

“I believe the combination of James Walker’s history and expertise in critical industrial sealing together with WMG’s state of the art capabilities will enable rapid development and commercialisation of materials. James Walker is committed to developing solutions to the PFAS regulations faced by global industry."

Dr Chaoying WanLink opens in a new window, Reader of Functional Polymers and Nanocomposites at WMG, University of Warwick explains: "Collaborating with James Walker to develop alternatives for PFAS seals is an important and exciting opportunity. Our elastomer research facility is supported by High Value Manufacturing Catapult CentreLink opens in a new window (HVMC), equipped with the latest technology, including a rubber process analyser (RPA) with wide temperature range - it is the only one in the UK, and one of only a few in the world with the capability to simulate dynamic elastomer performance at very low temperature.

“This function is extremely useful to compare differences in formulation design for applications such as high pressure or low temperature sealing. I am very much looking forward to working with the James Walker team on the development of new material options for high performance sealing applications and advancing our knowledge of polymer formulation and performance."

Find out more about WMG’s Nanocomposites research here: Nanocomposites (warwick.ac.uk)

Wed 03 May 2023, 14:10 | Tags: HVM Catapult Materials Nanocomposites Partnerships Research

Ceramic industry should bring carbon reducing cold sintering process out of labs and into manufacturing says new research

A new techno-economic analysis, by a team led by a researcher from WMG at the University of Warwick, shows that the energy intensive ceramic industry would gain both financial and environmental benefits if it moved to free the cold sintering process from languishing in labs to actual use in manufacturing everything from high tech to domestic ceramics.

The new research has just been published in the Journal of the European Ceramic Society in a paper entitled “Decarbonising ceramic manufacturing: A techno-economic analysis of energy efficient sintering technologies in the functional materials sector”.

The cold sintering process (CSP) combines heat, pressure and the use of water to significantly reduce energy use as it lowers the temperatures required to produce ceramics to around 300 degrees centigrade. This is far less than other process such as: Conventional sintering, Laser sintering, Fast-firing sintering, Liquid-phase sintering, and Flash sintering which require far more energy and need to reach temperatures ranging from 1400 to 3000 degrees centigrade depending on the process and materials under consideration.

However the small scale of laboratory-based CSP (typically creating 5 grams of ceramic at a time under lab conditions) has meant that manufacturers have chosen to continue to rely on other significantly higher temperature methods that can either already produce larger amounts or can rapidly manufacture a series of small scale high tech ceramics. The University of Warwick led team believed that manufacturers had not developed anything like a full understanding of the potential financial and environmental benefits of using CSP in manufacturing – particularly as the start-up costs of CSP are much lower than other processes.

The researchers looked at scenarios for the processing of 3 separate functional oxides used to produce ceramics: ZnO, PZT and BaTiO3. They compared cold sintering (CSP) with a range of other sintering techniques and looked at its return on investment. They found that in all three cases, even after 15 years of use, the low set up costs of CSP made it the most economically attractive sintering option, with lower capital costs and best return on investment as well as considerable energy and emission savings.

The researchers do recognise that the transition from laboratory to industry of CSP will require hugely different facilities and instrumentation as well as relevant property/performance validation to realise its full potential but the potential benefits of doing so are significant .

Lead researcher on the paper Dr Taofeeq Ibn-Mohammed from WMG at the University of Warwick said:

“The rising cost of energy and concerns about the environmental impact of manufacturing processes have necessitated the need for more efficient and sustainable manufacturing. The ceramic industry is an energy intensive industrial sector and consequently the potential to improve energy efficiency is huge”

“Our research is the first comprehensive techno-economic analysis of a number of sintering techniques, comparing them with the recently developed cold sintering process (CSP). We find that there are clear financial and environmental benefits if the ceramics industry was to take the cold sintering process out of labs and into commercial manufacturing”.

Note for Editors: The full research team on the paper were: Dr Taofeeq Ibn-Mohammed from WMG at The University of Warwick; C.A. Randall and S. Berbano both from the Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University; , K.B. Mustapha from the University of Nottingham; , J. Guo from Xi’an Jiaotong University and Pennsylvania State University; J. Walker from Norwegian University of Science and Technology; S.C.L. Koh, D. Wang, D.C. Sinclair, and I.M. Reaney, all from The University of Sheffield.

Thu 24 Oct 2019, 09:49 | Tags: Materials Materials and Manufacturing Research

WMG hiring 120 new positions over next 100 days

Shaping the FutureThe continued success and growth of WMG, at the University of Warwick, now means that it is seeking to hire 120 new recruits over the next 100 days.

WMG is a leading centre for world class education and applied research in many sectors including: automotive, aerospace and defence, business, construction, energy and utilities, IT, security and rail. They have recently won funding for several major research projects and partnerships that builds on our large array of collaborations with new and established partners.

WMG’s Chairman Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya said:

As we continue to grow and expand we are seeking individuals who thrive on a challenge and who aren’t afraid to defy conventional thinking. We are investing in, and creating, several new world-leading facilities to support these new projects. So we also need to invest in more talented people to take these projects forward and we will intend to recruit 120 of those people in the next 100 days.”

Some of the most recent developments, at WMG include a new £13.5 million Energy Innovation Centre and the £150 million National Automotive Innovation Centre.


Strategic Partnership between WMG and Thermotec Plastics Leads to New Client Offering Worth £1.5 Million

ThermoteccBirmingham based Thermotec Plastics Ltd and WMG at the University of Warwick have worked on a project together to develop a new product offering for the automotive and aerospace markets that is worth £1.5 million in new turnover for the business.

Thermotec Plastics, an innovative and bespoke supplier of engineered solutions in vacuum forming and polyurethane mouldings created a new composite material with impressive lightweight properties and WMG undertook a testing programme that validated the product for market.

The collaboration developed when David Rose, managing director of Thermotec was asked for performance related data for the new composite material by a key automotive client. Thermotec was unable to produce the data in-house as the testing equipment required was investment prohibitive. He therefore approached WMG’s SME Team at the International Institute for Product and Service Innovation who were able to undertake the testing through their funded Innovation Programme for West Midlands SMEs.


Call for Papers - WMG Doctoral Research and Innovation Conference

flyerThe 2nd annual WMG Doctoral Research and Innovation Conference, entitled ‘Innovation through Collaboration’, is an excellent opportunity to showcase research from both academia and industry across themes in design, materials, manufacturing, systems and business transformation.

Organised by doctoral students, the conference will be held in the International Digital Laboratory on 30th June - 1st July, with an evening social event on the 30th.

Papers and poster presentations will take place across a wide variety of topics and awards will be presented in each theme.

Abstracts should be submitted online by 31st March.


Leading academics appointed to new Tata Steel Chairs at Warwick

Professor Barbara Shollock and Professor Claire DavisWMG, at the University of Warwick, have announced that Professor Claire Davis and Professor Barbara Shollock have been appointed as two new Tata Steel Chairs for research into Thermo-mechanical Processing and Advanced Characterisation and Coatings.

These appointments strengthen the rapidly developing relationship between WMG, the University and Tata Steel. They confirm the strong commitment of Tata Steel to research and manufacturing in the UK.

Building on the initial Tata Steel / Royal Academy of Engineering Chair of Professor Sridhar Seetharaman, the company and the University have been working closely to develop an exciting strategic partnership, with research, research infrastructure, education and exploitation opportunities.


Professor Seetharaman awarded best paper prize

Prof Sridhar SeetharamanProfessor Sridhar Seetharaman has been awarded the best paper award at the IAS (Argentinian Iron and Steel Institute) annual Steel Conference in Argentina. The prestigious conference on Ironmaking, Steelmaking, Rolling and Steel Products is the major steel conference in South America. The conference took place from 5-7 November 2013 at Rozario, Argentina.

Professor Seetharaman is the Tata Steel / Royal Academy of Engineering Professor for Low Carbon Materials Technologies at WMG. He leads WMG's research in Materials Processing, with a focus on Iron and Steel Manufacturing.

Professor Seetharaman's paper was entitled ‘Oxidation and embrittlement in grain boundaries induced by Cu in a low carbon steel with Cr and 0.2% Cu under different thermal and atmospheric conditions’. The paper was produced by Professor Seetharaman along with his PhD student Erica Sampson (Carnegie Mellon University) and J.A. Mendez and C. Cicutti of Tenaris Siderca in Argentina.

19th IAS Steel Conference 2013 website

Mon 09 Dec 2013, 16:08 | Tags: Sridhar Seetharaman Materials Steels Processing Research

New tech embeds mass customised hidden data in credit cards and plastics during manufacture

Gordon SmithBank card and other plastic product manufacturers will have access to a powerful new technology that will help the fight against counterfeiting of their products and which can provide an additional security feature for credit cards, thanks to new technology devised by researchers at WMG at the University of Warwick.

The technology will allow manufacturers to rapidly embed individual, unique and hidden individual pieces of data in each item made in large production runs of plastic products or credit cards as they are being created by injection moulding.

The researchers, led by WMG Professor Gordon Smith at the University of Warwick have just applied for patents to protect the new technology which uses the influence of a particular external force that exploits the polarity of particles and fluids, to very selectively influence those particles or a polymer fluid as a product is formed by injection moulding.


Sridhar Seetharaman selected as editor of MMT Journals

Professor Sridhar SeetharamanProfessor Sridhar Seetharaman has been selected to become Editor of the US-based journal, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions (MMT).

MMT is produced jointly by two societies, The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society and ASM International. It includes three editions of its journals, Journal A (Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science), Journal B (Process Metallurgy) and the soon-to-be-launched Journal E (Energy Materials). Professor Seetharaman will be serving as Editor of all three editions from July 2013.

Professor Seetharaman holds the Royal Academy of Engineering / Tata Steel Research Chair in Low Carbon Materials Technologies at WMG where he leads research on physico-chemical aspects of iron and steel manufacturing and usage with an emphasis on energy efficiency, low carbon and reduction of emissions.


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