Goal and Vision
The Advanced Manufacturing programme is highly interdisciplinary in nature, spanning the alloy, biomaterial, polymer, composite, nanostructured materials, and energy material fields, and involving both experimental and computational efforts. This programme’s objective is to improve quality, productivity, cost efficiency, and sustainability in current manufacturing paradigms, as well as conceiving and developing novel hybrid manufacturing techniques to enable the commercial realisation of emerging products in the transport, biomedical, energy, automotive and other industrial sectors. In this context, innovation and development rely on a deep understanding of the physical and chemical phenomena influencing manufacturing processes.
A key part of this programme involves the creation and development of models based on Artificial Intelligence AI to predict the optimum manufacturing routes and quality of the manufactured products, as well as the modelling of tool-material interactions. The resulting fundamental knowledge is supplemented by state-of-the-art characterisation techniques needed to monitor the manufactured product quality, including microstructure and mechanical and functional properties.
MAIN RESEARCH LINES
- Virtual testing of structural composites and analysis of the effect of manufacturing defects on structural performance.
- Virtual processing of structural composites including hot-forming and out-of-autoclave injection, infusion, compression moulding. Surrogate and reduced order models for manufacturing based on Multiphysics simulations.
- AI techniques applied to manufacturing. Digital twins for manufacturing processes. Smart detection of defects by sensors including the active control of manufacturing systems.
- Structural health monitoring (SHM) through sensors integrated with Carbon Nanotube (CNT) yarn and AI-based automated damage detection models.
- AI-guided materials design and chemical process.
- Electric-current-assisted curing for bonding and repairs.
- Multifunctional composites for structural and energy storage applications.
- High-throughput computational thermodynamics for multicomponent alloy screening.
- Gas-phase assembly of continuous sheet and fibres of CNTs and inorganic nanowires (Si, SiC and MOx).
- Integration of these nanomaterials into electrodes and composite materials.
- Preparation of stable dispersions of nanowires for wet processing of optoelectronic devices.
- Coatings and functionalisation of materials for biological applications.
- Rapid alloy prototyping and manufacturing of bulk alloy libraries for the fast assessment of properties.
- Optimisation of casting processes.
- Development of novel thermomechanical processes and powder metallurgy routes via mechanical alloying and gas atomisation in non-oxidation conditions.
- Consolidation by field-assisted sintering and conventional press and sintering.
- Powder Injection Moulding.
- Multiscale modelling e.g. phase-field of microstructure formation and evolution during solidification and solid-state processing.
- Metallic materials, including powder design, fabrication, and characterisation.
- Composites, polymers, recycled fibres, and hybrids.
- PLA composite materials reinforced with Mg, Zn or CaPs nanoparticles and continuous metallic wires.
- Development of functional thermoplastic filaments: flame retardant, thermal conductive, biodegradable, reinforced, electrically conductive, etc. for 3D printing.
- Data-driven design of 3D-printed metamaterials.
- Custom-made implants using new biocompatible alloys.
- Stereolithography, including resin synthesis and characterisation.
- Extrusion-based 3D printing of biomaterials and bioprinting.
- Predictive simulation.
- In-situ monitoring.
- Surface treatment and characterisation.