In our successful proposal in the Adventurous Manufacturing round 2 call, we proposed a scalable, inexpensive, commodity materials-based water-based reversible adhesive. This glue needed to be stable for periods of many months and easily applied by the end user. This was achieved and a UK patent was submitted (P340927GB) a year after the project start. The technology is extremely simple; we used emulsion polymerization to synthesize polymer nanoparticles. These were stabilized with polyelectrolytes, either physically adsorbed to, or polymerized from, the nanoparticles. Polyelectrolytes are polymers that are either positively (polycations) or negatively (polyanions) charged. This water-based emulsion forms a film, just like a paint. When a surface coated with a polyanion-stabilized emulsion is brought into contact with another surface coated with a polycation-stabilized emulsion there is good adhesion. This adhesion further improves when the films dry, and, unusually for a water-based adhesive, does not fail in moist and humid environments. However, as intended, the bond does fail in an acidic or alkaline environment. This creates a unique concept in adhesive technologies because the adhesion can be made to fail on demand, which is an important concept for recycling. Furthermore, this is neither a structural adhesive (based on covalent bonds) nor a pressure-sensitive adhesive, and is therefore an entirely new class of glue, which we deem an electrostatic adhesive. The purpose of this proposal is to develop the technology in the following ways: (i) increase the versatility of the technology by administering it as a spray rather than a paint; (ii) increase the speed of debonding by patterning the surface(s) or by reducing the pH difference from neutral at which bonding fails; (iii) developing fully environmentally friendly materials for use in the adhesive; and (iv) making the adhesive conducting so that it can be applied to e-waste, and, in particular, the recycling of printed circuit boards. As part of this fourth work package, the glue will also be adapted for thermal heat management tasks. Electronic components often reach elevated temperatures, and a glue with good thermal conduction that can adhere a heat sink and remain stable at temperatures of ~70 degrees C will be developed. A fifth work package will involve testing the electronic and thermal reversible glue in real-world environments. Some work on the first two of these work packages will be performed before the start of the project, and some work demonstrating the feasibility of an adhesive that is more environmentally friendly than the first formulations has already been performed, e.g., through the addition of epoxidized soybean oil to the formulations. The fourth and fifth work packages represent an entirely new departure for this technology. The challenges facing us are due to this being a disruptive (step-change) technology, and because it is difficult to convince manufacturers to adapt their processes, we need to adapt ours to work with current processes. This is certainly the case for the bottle-labelling industry, which we have initially targeted, and it may also be needed in other industries. By the end of the grant (September 2026), our new glue will be commercially viable for use in industries working in areas such as labelling and packaging, specialist parts (e.g., car manufacture), and electronics.

The theme area is manufacturing of engineering composites structures, specifically those which comprise continuous high performance fibres held together with a polymeric matrix. The relevant industry areas include aerospace, automotive, marine, wind energy and construction. The proposal demonstrates continuing and growing need in the UK polymer composites manufacturing sector for suitably technically qualified individuals, able to make positive and rapid impact on its international manufacturing competitiveness. Extension of a newly created Industrial Doctorate Centre in Composites Manufacture fills an existing gap in provision of industrially focussed higher level education in the UK, in the specialist discipline of polymer composites manufacturing. It has its centre of gravity in Bristol, with the rapidly expanding National Composites Centre (NCC) the natural home-base for the cohorts of composites manufacturing Research Engineers embedded in the composites manufacturing industry. This new hub of applied research activity focussed at TRL 3-5 is different from but highly complementary to the outputs of composites manufacturing PhD students within the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Composites (CIMComp), working on more fundamental research topics in composites manufacture at TRL 1-3. Achieving a clearer definition of the industrial composites manufacturing challenges and of new knowledge base requirements will provide direction for the industrially relevant accompanying fundamental research. The EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Composites has established and maintains close management overview of this IDC , as well as fostering links with related CDTs within the wider High Value Manufacturing Catapult, initially specifically the AMRC Composites Centre IDC in Machining Science. Over time such connections will establish a critical mass of industrially focussed manufacturing research activity in the UK, raising the national and international status of the EngD brand in the composites industry, in academia and in professional institutions by targeted dissemination through CIMComp in conjunction with the NCC

Fibre-reinforced composites are finding increased usage in load-bearing structures in a variety of applications in marine, automotive and rail transport industries owing to their specific strength and stiffness properties. A serious problem with these composite materials, particularly glass-reinforced polymeric composites, which are the most prevalent in marine and other surface transport applications, is that they support combustion and in fire conditions burn, most often with heavy soot and smoke. Insulation can reduce the fire hazard, but does not eliminate it. Moreover the insulation adds weight and cost to apply.The combustible part of the composite is organic resin matrix. Most common method of fire retarding the resin and hence, the overall composite is the physical and chemical modification of the resin by either adding fire retardant element in the polymer backbone or using fire retardant additives in the resin. For polyester or vinyl ester resins, usually halogenated chemicals are used. While the presence of halogen significantly reduces the flammability of the resin, due to increasing environmental awareness and strict environmental legislations thereof, halogen - containing fire retardants are being strictly scrutinised. When non-halogen flame retardants are used, invariably they are required in large quantities (>30% w/w) to achieve required level of fire retardancy. The high concentrations of additives however, can reduce the mechanical properties of the composite. Moreover, they also affect resin's processability for resin transfer moulding technique, commonly used for these types of composites. We propose here a step change in the resin matrix by reducing the combustibility of vinyl ester and/or polyester resin by co-blending with inherently fire retardant resins, such as phenolic or melamine-formaldehyde resin.This proposal is a joint attempt by 'Fire Materials' group at the University of Bolton and 'Fluid Structure Interactions Research Group (FSIRG) at the University of Southampton to develop, construct, test and model novel, fire-retardant composites, initially for marine applications. The principal focus is to develop a modified polymeric matrix to reduce the combustibility of the vinyl ester or polyester resins by blending with appropriately modified phenolic and melamine resins, which will increase the thermal stability and char-forming capacity of the matrix. The physical and chemical properties of the modified resin will be optimised to enable: (a) the resin to be infusible for moulding leading to good processing ability: (b) low temperature cure capability to maximize compatibility and bonding with glass fibres; and (c) up-scaling to produce large laminates and structures. It is proposed that two different approaches will be taken: the first one 'Material' based, mainly by Bolton, and the other 'Structure' based, to which both Bolton and Southampton will contribute. The specific tasks include resin blending, chemical / physical modification of the resin, process modelling and resin infusion, composite laminate preparation and flammability evaluation. The composite laminates and structures thus produced are expected to comply with the fire performance requirements contained in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) as `IMO/HSC Code (Code of Safety for High Speed craft of the International Maritime Organisation). Additionally, the structural performance of the composite would be expected to be comparable with current glass/vinyl ester. We also propose to conduct fire performance modelling, mechanical characterisation and progressive damage analysis from a structural design viewpoint.We expect these composites to find applications also in other engineering arenas for which low-weight, thermally resistant and fire-retardant structures are increasingly being sought.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

This Industrial Doctoral Centre (IDC) addresses a national need by building on the strengths of the existing EngD in Micro- and NanoMaterials and Technologies (MiNMaT) and the University of Surrey's excellent track record of working with industry to provide a challenging, innovative and transformative research environment in materials science and engineering. Following the proven existing pattern, each research engineer (RE) will undertake their research with their sponsor at their sponsor's premises. The commitment of potential sponsors is demonstrated in the significant number of accompanying letters of support. Taking place over all four years, carefully integrated intensive short courses (normally one week duration) form the taught component of the EngD. These courses build on each other and augment the research. By using a core set of courses, graduates from a number of physical science/engineering disciplines can acquire the necessary background in materials. This is essential as there are insufficient numbers of students who have studied materials at undergraduate level. The research focus of this IDC will be the solution of academically challenging and industrially relevant processing-microstructure-property relationship problems, which are the corner-stones of the discipline. This will be possible because REs will interact with internationally leading academics and have access to a suite of state-of-the-art characterisation instrumentation, enabling them to obtain extensive hands on experience. As materials features as one of the University's seven research priority areas, there is strong institutional support as demonstrated in the Vice Chancellor's supporting letter, which pledges 2.07M of new money for this IDC. As quality and excellence run through all aspects of this IDC, those graduating with an EngD in MiNMaT will be the leaders and innovators of tomorrow with the confidence, knowledge and research expertise to tackle the most challenging problems to keep UK industry ahead of its competitors.