Interdisciplinary Advanced Forming Research Centre, Univ of Strathclyde "The Tech", One of 7 Members of the Advanced Manufacturing Consortium

NEWS RELEASE & PERSONAL NOTES:

This post arose from a short note in the Strathclyde Quarterly Alumni Mag., Autumn 2011. and a real pleasure to see that the once proud Metallurgy Department-Colville Building has prominent place in the new Advanced Manufacturing Consortium (even if Sheffield houses a couple of Centres, cf. ref.1, below and the metals recycling spin-off was cornered by Heriot-Watt 's Caledonian Aerotech. cf refs.3 & 4, below) The notes in parenthesis are more than sour grapes they are intended to keep my colleagues up-north on their toes...
 Now it is also encouraging to learn that, fittingly, my old outfit  Aubert & Duval-Imphy  are among the sponsors, cf. ref.3.

The Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) is a collaborative venture between the University of Strathclyde, Scottish Enterprise,the Scottish Government and internationally renowned engineering firms including Rolls‐Royce, Boeing, Mettis Aerospace, TIMET, Aubert and Duval Aubert and Duval and Barnes Aerospace.

Formally opened in January 2011 by HRH the Duke of York, the AFRC represents a total investment of £30M over 5 years.

The Centre undertakes fundamental and applied  research, and develops cutting‐edge forming and forging techniques to support manufacturing processes in the aerospace, energy, marine and
automobile industries.

Key manufacturing challenges:
-Tighter tolerances: Plant monitoring, control and robotics.
-Longer die life: Improved die design and use.
-Lubrication: Investigating mechanisms and improved lubricants.
Improved models: Microstructure, properties and probabilistic methods

This post could and should, given time, be extended to give much credit to the UK, Innovation Strategy Initiative

References


1. Innovate UK_newsletter 01_june2011 [pdf]

2. Technology Strategy Board


3. Materials Science and Technology, Feb. 1985, Vol 1- 1st Issue.  strong evidence of work done at AD_Imhpy (Imphy SA at the time) In fact much more was achieved, from initiating the industrial aceptation of the project requested by GE-SNECMA, to the industrial realisations to tight tolerances Chemistry, Microstracture, cleanness, equivalence of virgin materials and recycled aero-engine scrap material,  imposed by client QC-AQ procedures

Recycled alloy718 supplied by Ireland Alloys Ireland Alloys in Blantyre, Scotland now part of Murry Metals Grp 1982 to 1986. Excellent source.


4. Caledonian Aerotech
Caledonian Aerotech has carved a lucrative niche in the multi-billion dollar global aerospace market by recycling and processing the special alloys used in the production of aircraft engines, land-based turbines and in the petrochemical industries.

A core process is recovering the metal left after machining, then cleaning, grading and preparing it to be returned as ‘chips’ to specialist melters for re-use, (PS shunned upon by Aerospacial Toulouse now EADS for aluminium-lithium [Al-Li alloys] in 1988! but registered in my report to Airbus Industry on Materials Selection 1988.

LINK Strong Packaging Innovation Push_Starpack Industry Awards 2011_Innovation from the Packaging Division of IOM3

Strong Packaging Innovation Push_Starpack Industry Awards 2011_Innovation from the Packaging Division of IOM3

Surface chemistry: A close look at hydrophobicity_Wetting_non-Wetting_Bulk Steelmaking Macro to Nanotechnology and Biomimicry

This post was motivated by a recent publication (14 Feb. 2011 in Nature Asia Materials) entitled

 Surface chemistry: A close look at hydrophobicity : research highlight : NPG Asia Materials (ref. 1)

Much progress has been made in understanding the phenomena involved in the wetting of solid surfaces by liquids, in the characterisation of wetting phenomena since Charles Macintosh (FRS) chemist and engineer famous for the impermeable named after him (1766 – 1843) for that that matter since my very first study as young,high temperature physical chemistry,research scientific officer involved in "wetting- non-wetting of refractory surfaces by liquid steel (mpt.1500°C) so fundamental to steelmaking and it's manufacturing process improvement.(1969-71)  It appeared to provide a surprising historical insight into the study of wetting, hydrophobia-hydrophilic as well as an occasion to revisit themes treated pragmatically in my very first study project involving the formation of gas bubbles on refractory surfaces in steel, perhaps re-situate it in what has today become a flourishing inspirational approach to many biomimetic material innovations.  Our focus at the time (1970) was the then new vacuum degassing DH and RH processes whereby liquid steel is recycled through a vacuum chamber. Deoxidation is by carbon forming CO/CO2 gas bubbles formed under the prevailing vacuum conditions. Often the liquid steel circulation was hindered in the narrow recirculation legs by unwanted CO/CO2 gas bubbles. We confirmed the role of liquid wetting, active or unwetted pore size, the influence of choice of refractory materials, and the combined influence of the overhead atmospheric pressure and the pressure of the head weight of liquid steel. The total pressure was varied by reducing the atmospheric pressure. Data is shown below:

 

Ref. 2 The growth of carbon monoxide bubbles on refractory surfaces during vacuum degassing of iron melts.  J. Alexander, G.S.F Hazeldean, M.W. Davies Sheffield Conf. 1971  and BISRA -Corp Labs of British Steel Corp. Report CH/28/71.



If I personally did not follow-up this applied research in bulk liquid metal degassing, it did stand me in good stead for rapidly coming to terms with gas bubble phenomena in liquid steel and special alloys. For example Fe-Ni and Fe-Ni-Co alloys, Invars and Covars highly sensitive to CO gas solubility and rimming or degassing during solidification. The larger the ingot the more difficult it is to solidify and subsequently remove remaining traces of gas blow-holes. Nevertheless ingot sizes were increased from 4T to 10T and even to 18T. Similarly improvements were made in VIM-vacuum induction melting and refining and VAR-vacuum arc remelting etc. all stemming from intimate knowledge of C deoxidation reaction its theoretical and practical limitations and of the physics and chemistry of wetting.

If I and worse the reader feels that this is old-hat stuff, I and hopefully the reader like me will be most encouraged by the historical background referenced in the title paper:
Surface chemistry: A close look at hydrophobicity : research highlight : NPG Asia Materials  (14 Feb. 2011) Ref. 3.


Wenzel's referenced work is "Wenzel RN (1936) Resistance of solid surfaces to wetting by water. Ind Eng Chem" and Cassies referenced work is Cassie ABD, Baxter S (1944) Wettability of porous surfaces. Trans Faraday Soc 40:546–551.28:988–994. [ WENZEL STATE _ WENZEL-CASSIE-TRANSITION_free from PNAS.ORG [Pdf format] (Ref. 3)

Of course lower temperature (RT) phenomena and modern computing techniques and computer technological advance readily allow molecular dynamic (MD) simulations to be carried out. If accent in the 1960-1980's focused on macro-phenomena and increasing productivity and economies of size. Recent approaches focus more and more on the infinitely small-nanoscience and technology first driven by micro-electronics (Moore's Law ) and much more recently inspired by biomimicry cf for example The Biomimicry Institute. 

The types of  applications, inventions, innovations arising from nanotechnology and the biomimetic approach are given in ref. 4 below.

NB. Recent great mind who moved from solid state physics to explore  
"Capillarity and Wetting Phenomena: Drops, Bubbles, Pearls, Waves"
 and on to soft materials is the late and much regreted Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, who associated with Francoise Brochard-Wyart and David Quere authored the book in the above title. cf also amazon's offer in Books below.

Refs:
1. Surface chemistry: A close look at hydrophobicity : research highlight : NPG Asia Materials

2. Ref. 2 The growth of carbon monoxide bubbles on refractory surfaces during vacuum degassing of iron melts. J. Alexander, G.S.F Hazeldean, M.W. Davies Sheffield Conf. 1971 and BISRA -Corp Labs of British Steel Corp. Report CH/28/71.

3. WENZEL STATE - WENZEL CASSIE [Pdf]

4. Hydrophobicity - Superhydrophobicity

5. Good overall introduction to physics of Wetting, Adhesion, Biomimicry, Friction:
Nick Fang's Lecture_Wetting_Adhesion_Biomimicry_Friction_Macro to Nano [pdf]

RELATED POSTS:

1. Whisky - Chemical up-date from the RCS-Chemistry World

2. Water repellent properties, Biomimicry, Self Assembling Molecules, Network of micro- nanowires, excellent imagery in "Nanomaterials: Cu Water Strider .

3. Metaklett-steel grips, Biomimicry and Shape Memory Alloy meanders

4. Nanotechnology - to many to list - use blog search tool - top left.  

GOOGLE BOOKS:

Capillarity and wetting phenomena: drops, bubbles, pearls, waves by P_Gilles de Gennes et al

New Video posted to my Video Wall -Creativity in Education and the Future of Science. A must read for scientists and educators,

Watch Isacc Asimov and hear his views on this central issue to we scientists, communicators, and educators cf. the link below or via the video wall above.

Isaac Asimov on Creativity in Education & The Future of Science

Innovation Towards Sustainable Materials-Just what the Doctor ordered: meet the People, the Global Movers.

Big names, concerned scietists, engineers and business executives meet to work on what many consider to be millenium class issues- To Be Treated Fittingly on WWI & II rememberance, Amnesty Day 11-11 1945.   


Big meeting - constructive thinking for serious future planning  anticipated and expected from such a panel of experienced, highly professional specialist in their respective fields.


In all 10 sub-themes will be treated in this expert's approach to Sustainable Materials, Innovation.


1:Setting the Global Scene are: Start 10 Nov. 2010.

• Ian Christmas (Director General, World Steel Association)

• Per Sandberg (Director, International Projects, WBCSD)

• Peter Bonfield (Chief Executive, Building Research Establishment)

2:Materials Sourcing, Processing Technologies, Extractive Industries

• John Groom (Safety and Sustainable Development Adviser, Anglo American)

• Craig White (Wood Technology, White Design)

• Sevket Durucan (Professor of Mining and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College)

• James Anderson (Director of Sustainability, AMEC)

3:Construction and the Built Environment contributions from:

• Hank Dittmar (Chief Executive, Prince's Foundation, Built Environment)

• Beulah Keane (Project Manager, Marks and Spencer, Plan A; Sustainable Construction

• Jamie Smith (Skanska)

• Javed Sethi (Marketing Manager, Lafarge Cement UK)

4:ResourcEfficiency and Environmental Technologies


• Carolyn Roberts (Director, Environmental Sustainability KTN)

• Richard Swannell (Director, WRAP)

• Theo Lehner (Manager, Business Development, Bolidien)

• Edward Way (Chairman, Green Power Limited

5:Assessment Tools and Information Management

• Mike Ashby (Director, Granta Design)

• Rana Pant (European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment, European Commission)

• Norman Swindells (Managing Director, Ferroday Ltd)

• Angela Druckman (Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Mitigation,

Surrey University)

Guest Speaker: Tom Heap (Presenter, Costing the Earth, BBC Radio 4

Thursday 11th of  November

6: Setting the Forward Strategy

• Head of Climate Change, Tata Group
7: Product Design, Packaging and the Consumer

• Martin Charter (Director, Centre for Sustainable Design)

• Tony Taylor (Sustainability and Packaging Manager, Unilever UK)

• Stuart Patrick (Chairman, The Polymer Society, The Institute of Materials, Minerals

and Mining)

8: Transport and Infrastructure.

• Robin Haycock (Transport Energy Consultant, Arup)

• George Coates (Project Director, WorldAutoSteel)

• Geoff Scamans (Chief Scientific Officer, Innoval Limited)

• Pat Winfield (Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Head of Sustainable Vehicle

Engineering Centre, Oxford Brookes University)

9: Energy and Climate Change.

• Rosemary Albinson (Technology and Transport Strategy Advisor, BP Castrol)

• Markys Cain (Knowledge Leader, Functional Materials Team, NPL)

• Rod Martin (Chairman, British Composites Society, IOM3 and Chief Execuitve, MERL)

10: Sustainable Manufacturing and Processes

• Mike Gregory, CBE (Head of Manufacturing and Management Division, Institute for

Manufacturing, University of Cambridge)

• Pascal Payet-Gaspard (Secretary General, International Stainless Steel Forum

Closing Address

• Roland Clift, CBE (Distinguished Professor of Environmental Technology, Surrey

University)

 
More information...? 
cf.  Institute of  Materials Minerals and Mining, IOM3, the global network for the full materials cycle

Conversations-on-Innovations: Innovation-at-Work: Companies who help accelerate innovation and of course social progress and economic growth

Conversations-on-Innovations: Innovation-at-Work: Companies who help accelerate innovation and of course social progress and economic growth

I discovered the innovation focused company, Innovia Technology, Cambridge UK, thanks to the Google AdSense on my Materials Science & Engineering focused pages Materials Science and Engineering Defined.
Innova Technologies "Capabilities and Approach" page sums up succinct important messages for innovators and their clients:

I discovered the innovation focused company, Innovia Technology, Cambridge UK, thanks to the Google AdSense on my Materials Science & Engineering focused pages Materials Science and Engineering Defined.


Innova Technologies "Capabilities and Approach" page sums up succinct important messages for innovators and their clients:

EXAMPLES OF BOOKS & JOURNALS ON INNOVATION IN MATERIALS SCIENCE

Innovation in Zeolite Materials Science (Studies in Surface Science and Catalysis)


Innovation in Zeolite Materials Science (Studies in Surface Science and Catalysis)

Creativity in Materials Science, Invention, Innovation - Innovation Sells.

This series of posts arise from a pointer from my latest September 2010 Issue of Materials World, Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining (IOM3) house journal, Materials World (MW). Our professional development p.19, reported on (improving) "Connecting research with creativity" the article title. The work is supported by the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) who first brought together together 15 senior academics in order to get strategic input on what was required to free creativity in research. (cf. ref1.)


Currently I manage 7 interconnected blogs,(cf table above) mostly based on Metallurgy, Materials Science, Technology and Engineering. The numbers reflect the interdisciplinarity of a practician from an interdisciplinary science based education such as Metallurgy, Materials Science, Technology,Engineering though to Science and Engineering based (Technical) Management. From my own experience in industrially oriented R and D, I give Creativity, Invention and Innovation in these interdisciplinary fields.

The first news item from EPSRC on these "getting our act together" is dated

30 July 2010. (ref 2.) relating pretended progress already achieved. Both references 1 and 2 are important starting points for both individual professionals and companies to delve further into these topics foundations of the Added Value Proposition (but I surmise the major companies have a head start in this since the Added Value Proposition is their bread and butter.

A Materials Engineering Creativity and Innovation eBook from the academic world .
Thanks to my blogging activity, and preceding this post my AdSense brought to light the following Materials Engineering Creativity and Innovation eBook from the academic world of materials science, technology and engineering and related which I am sure will inspire the UK materials community (ref 3. from which my illustrations have been taken).

REFERENCES.

1. Connecting research with creativity

2.Creative thinking in research

3. Innovation Cells [pdf] or Getting one's act together.