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The University of Nottingham (UoN) has transferred an understanding of how starchy foods are modified by processing, attained through working with human foods, to the animal feed industry. The knowledge developed at UoN and further advanced by co-operative programmes with industrial partners, has enabled animal feed manufacturers to reformulate and modify their production procedures to optimise manufacturing operations, increase profitability and the nutritional quality of the feeds.
Nanoforce Technology Ltd. is a spin-out company wholly owned by QMUL, active in the field of polymeric and ceramic materials. Bridging the gap between academic research and industrial applications, Nanoforce has done business with over 100 companies since 2008, providing the key research expertise and specialist facilities to enable the development of new materials and commercial products, including Sugru® a room temperature vulcanizing silicone rubber, Zelfo® a self-binding cellulose material, and BiotexTM a range of high-performance yarns, fabrics and pre- consolidated sheets based renewable resources such as PLA and natural flax fibres. Nanoforce has been promoting the development and commercialisation of spark plasma sintering (SPS) since 2006, which resulted in Kennametal recently opening the first commercial SPS facility in the UK to produce advanced ceramic armour. Nanoforce's clients have included large multi-nationals such as DSM, Dow Chemical, General Electric, SABIC, L'Oreal, Shell, Sibelco, governmental agencies such as Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), and a large number of SME's.
Research at the University of Nottingham (UoN) has generated a deep understanding of how semi-crystalline biopolymers, particularly starches and cellulosics, can be controlled through processing to create products with predictable behaviour and with enhanced functionality, especially for texture creation. This knowledge has been transferred to the food industry and to other manufacturers who use natural materials. Concepts developed by UoN have become the bedrock of understanding for large and small manufacturers, enabling them to reduce waste, adapt recipes allowing for cleaner labels and additive reduction, expand the range and quality of materials they can utilise and attempt novel manufacturing procedures.
The vulnerability of both military and civilian infrastructure to the threat of terrorist activity has highlighted the need to improve its survivability, and this poses a significant design challenge to engineers. Research work at Imperial has led to the development of novel constitutive relationships for polymeric materials coupled to novel analysis procedures; software algorithms for effective simulations of blast and impact events; and enhanced experimental testing methods allowing a fundamental understanding of the structures. According to Dstl, this body of research has `unquestionably improved the security and effectiveness of the UK armed forces operating in hostile environments abroad as well as the safety of citizens using metropolitan infrastructure within the UK'. The techniques have been applied to vehicles and UK infrastructure, including for high profile events, such as the 2012 Olympics.
The investigators of this impact case study have utilised their expertise in materials engineering, theoretical/numerical modelling and product development to achieve significant economic, social and environmental impacts in a range of fields through developing a systematic methodology for innovative product design and optimisation. Through several industrial projects and collaborations, significant impacts have been witnessed including new products creating several million pounds in revenue annually for businesses in different sectors and green manufacturing technologies in repair and reclamation of components. All the described impacts were results of investigation in the Mechanical Engineering and Materials Research Centre (MEMARC) over the assessment period.
A manufacturing process developed by Bradford researchers has revolutionised the way endodontists perform root canal treatments. When coated with a hydrophilic polymer, the highly-filled hygroscopic material has enabled UK company DRFP to develop SmartPoint — a new endodontic technique that dramatically reduces failure rates of root canal treatments from 11-30% over five years to approximately 1%, and gives lower levels of post-operative pain when compared with conventional techniques. The technology has won three awards for innovation and DRFP has expanded significantly, with a dedicated production facility and sales team offering visits to dentists to demonstrate the benefits of the technology.
Research at Kingston University into the use of flame spray pyrolysis (FSP) to manufacture metal oxide nanoparticles has resulted in the creation of an industrial FSP nanoparticle production line. This achieves production rates an order of magnitude higher than was previously achievable, while allowing particle size to be controlled at the same scale as existing small FSP processes.
TECNAN, a Spanish SME, established in 2007, that manufactures and sells nanomaterials on the international market, has used this production line to produce a range of nanoparticles for commercial customers, for use in a wide range of applications. As well as allowing a broad product range to be offered, the production line also achieves a cost reduction of over 30% compared to previous manufacturing methods.
Ulster research groups in the fields of composites and metal forming have had a long-term and fruitful engagement with major industries such as Caterpillar (FG Wilson), Rolls Royce and Bombardier. Since 2008 this has resulted in new patented technologies, significant cost/performance improvement in manufacturing, the delivery of on-site industrial training, the formation of spin-out companies and the establishment of the £6m N. Ireland Advanced Composites and Engineering Centre with currently 10 member companies. In particular, Ulster research has been at the heart of patented Bombardier processes which underpinned their strategic entry into the commercial narrow body aircraft market which is worth $43billion per annum globally. The C Series wing programme, which utilises composites, employs 800 people directly in Belfast at full production, with a further 2,000 employed in the supply chain. As of today, Bombardier has global orders and commitments for 388 C Series aircraft, which include firm orders for 177 of the new airliner.
University of Bradford research has enabled a material manufacturing company, Armacell, to reuse up to 95% of its production waste to produce new, high-value acoustic products with up to 50% better acoustic performance than any competition products of similar size. We protected the developed IP through several international patents and set up a spin-off company, Acoutechs Ltd, to explore this technology commercially. These materials are now used to reduce noise levels below the recommended limits and to improve the general acoustic quality of spaces at home and work for the benefit of public health. The products generate an annual turnover of more than €4 million for Armacell and prevent more than 500 tonnes of plastic waste from going into landfill annually.
For aerospace vehicles, the development of new materials and structural configurations are key tools in the relentless drive to reduce weight and increase performance (in terms of, for example, speed and flight characteristics). The economic drivers are clear — it is widely recognised that it is worth approximately $10k to save one pound of weight in a spacecraft per launch and $500 per pound for an aircraft over its lifetime. The environmental drivers (ACARE 2050) are also clear — reduced aircraft weight leads to lower fuel burn and, in turn, to lower CO2 and NOx emissions. With such high cost-to-weight ratios, there is intense industrial interest in the development of new structural configurations/concepts and enhanced structural models that allow better use of existing or new materials. Analytical structural mechanics models of novel anisotropic structures, developed at the University's Advanced Composites Centre for Innovation and Science (ACCIS), are now used in the industrial design of aircraft and spacecraft. Based on this research, a new, unique anisotropic composite blade, designed to meet an Urgent Operational Requirement for the MoD, is now flying on AgustaWestland EH101 helicopters that are deployed in Theatre. In addition, the new modelling tools and techniques have been adopted by Airbus, AgustaWestland, Cassidian and NASA and incorporated into LUSAS's finite element analysis software. These tools have, for example, been used to inform Airbus's decision to use a largely aluminium wing design rather than a hybrid CFRP/aluminium wing for the A380.