Materials Science and Engineering Defined

Sixteen Research Roadmaps for Materials from the Directorate-General for Research Unit G3 Added- value Materials

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:10:00 +0000

It is widely recognized that, Materials Science and Technology are advancing fast. Materials create added value in most products as so are of particular relevance for industry and society.

At the same time, costs must be minimised, sustainability improved, and products rendered more attractive, portable, or usable by making them smaller and lighter, improving functionality etc.

Due to their importance the EU Commission’s Directorate-General for Research- G3 for Added- value Materials has published a guide-Research Roadmaps for Materials, in order to focus attention of all interested parties on: the efforts engaged, to encourage further engagement and on the potential rewards for success.

-16 Research Road Maps

-10 Key Thematic Programmes (Framework programme7. FP7)

-RRM PURPOSE

-Three Key Overview Themes

-Strategies outline (Open and closed)

-Layered approach (4 layer example)

-WHY INVEST?

-11 Supporting chapters

16 Research Road Maps, each with its specially dedicated web site has been drawn up as follows:

1 CMA- Complex metallic alloys

2 DISC-REGENERATION-Novel biofunctional highly porous polymer scaffolds and techniques

controlling angiogenesis for the regeneration and repair of the degenerated intervertebral disc

3 POLYSACCHARIDES -The European polysaccharide network

4 EXCELL-Thin Fims Network of Excellence: to overcome the fragmentation of European

research in multifunctional thin films

5 EXPERTISSUES-Novel therapeutic strategies for tissue engineering of bone

and cartilage using second generation biomimetic scaffolds LINK2 expertissues

6 FAME & EMMI -Functionalised advanced materials and engineering of hybrids

and ceramics

7 IDECAT-ERIC ERIC- the European Research Institute of Catalysis

Integrated design of catalytic nanomaterials for a sustainable production ( IDECAT logo has been corrupted!) Use ERIC Link here

8 KMM-NoE_ Knowledge-based multicomponent materials for durable

and safe performance

9 MAGISTER and EIMM-Magnetic scaffolds for in vivo engineering and biomimetic materials

10 MAGMANet -Molecular approach to nanomagnets and multifunctional materials

11 METAMORPHOSE-Metamaterials organized for radio, millimeter wave, and photonic

superlattice engineering

12 MIND-Multi-functional and integrated piezoelectric devices

13 NANOFUN-POLY _Nanostructured and functional polymer-based materials and

nanocomposites

14 NANOMEMPRO-Expanding membrane macroscale applications by exploring

nanoscale material properties LINK 2

15 ONE-P_Organic nanomaterials for electronics and photonics: design,

synthesis, characterization, processing, fabrication and applications

16 SOFTCOMP-Soft matter composites – an approach to nanoscale functional

material

Key Thematic Programmes (FP7):

• Theme 1 Health

• Theme 2 Food, agriculture and fisheries, and biotechnology

• Theme 3 Information and communications technologies (ICT)

• Theme 4 Nanosciences, nanotechnologies, materials and new production technologies (NMP)

• Theme 5 Energy

• Theme 6 Environment (including climate change)

• Theme 7 Transport (including aeronautics)

• Theme 8 Socio-economic sciences and the humanities

• Theme 9 Space

• Theme 10 Security

NMP underpins progress in virtually all other above mentioned Themes. The materials research

done tries to find answers to questions such as:

• How can products and processes be improved?

• Are there better alternative materials and process?

• How can new materials reduce the number of components and production steps?

• What is the impact of materials on cost, quality, safety, consumer experience and regulatory

compliance?

• How can maximum added value be derived from materials? Can we use fewer or local materials and suppliers?

• Which is the most sustainable material in terms of energy and primary resource consumption?

New materials can make crucial differences in many products. Multi-application materials form

a generic, horizontal, cross-cutting field with actors in many different industrial sectors.

The Nano Materials Production (NMP) theme develops both multi-application materials, and materials for targeted applications in all FP7 Thematic Areas, notably Energy, Environment, Health, ICT and Transport.

RRM PURPOSE

Risking repletion, Research Road Maps (RRM) arise from the dialogue between scientists and industrialists.

Research Road Maps (RRM) have the potential to offer great added value in guiding the activities undertaken by all stakeholders: scientists, industries, venture capitalists, research managers, etc.

In addition, if based on economic and societal needs, they can be of great value in priority-setting interactions with public administrations at national and European level.

Research road mapping involves identifying scientific and technological challenges related to the socio-economic and industrial trends expected for the coming decade(s). An analysis of existing RRMs shows that they are generally organised around three ’parameters’:

Three Key Overview Themes

• Thematic areas/economic and societal challenges, from which common drivers for materials innovation can be derived and which have cross-sector relevance such as the FP7 Themes: Energy, Environment,…

• Horizontal and vertical classes: horizontal classes are cross-cutting technologies e.g. modelling, metrology and standards, process technologies, manufacturing. Examples of vertical classes are structural, functional, multi-functional and bio-materials.

• Market industry sectors e.g. aerospace, transport, healthcare, packaging, textiles, construction.

Strategies outline.

The strategies followed by roadmap producers vary from closed to open.

In closed strategies, the desired end-result is chosen and means are defined to reach this goal.

Such RRMs can easily be up-dated at regular intervals. Closed roadmaps tend to be highly

predictive constructions that are adapted to the needs of markets and activities.

Open Strategies start from a good knowledge of the state-of-the-art in a specific field of activity,

then extrapolate the developments of this activity over time. Open roadmaps may be fragile

constructions, low on prediction and usually involving accompanying blue-sky research.

A RRM could consist of 4 layers and 11 supporting chapters

First layer

FP Theme (Health, Energy, Environment, ICT,…) supported by the NMP Programme

Second layer

Applications/systems supporting the Theme and enabled by new materials

Third layer

Materials and/or processes enabling the applications/systems

Fourth layer

Research necessary to create the materials.

WHY INVEST?

Supporting chapters justify why scientists, industry or funding agencies should invest in these research areas.

11 Supporting chapters are listed as follows:

• Potential application domains/lead market sector for new material scientific and technological results.

• Context, including current bottlenecks.

• Motivation.

• Key performance figures (targets).

• Activity in- and dynamics of- the field, including the patent landscape.

• References.

• Time-line (for Research & Development and applications).

• Dependencies/conditions to be addressed (regulations, standardisation).

• Prioritisation for different (regional, national, European) funding schemes.

• Technology transfer possibilities and necessary education.

• Conclusions and recommendations.

REFERENCES

Research Roadmaps for Materials, Ed. Anne de Baas

Directorate-General for Research

Directorate G — Industrial Technologies

Unit G.3 — Value-added Materials

Ed. Anne de Baas

European Commission

EUR 24210 — Research Road Mapping in Materials

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union

2010 — 24 pp. — 17.6 x 25 cm

ISBN 978-92-79-14485-1

doi: 10.2777/87000

Renewable Energy _ The Scottish Model_ Will Scotland again become a main powerhouse for UK and EU?

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:03:00 +0000

As the debate over nuclear energy rages in France, there are encouraging signs from Northern Europe, Scotland in this case, what I recognised early as "The Scottish Model".

Learning, as blogger, that the much desired transition by all parties from a "Non-Renewable Energy terminal illness" to a "Renewable Energy Long-life" - As long as the sun shines"- was going to be an incredible struggle cf. The excellent and free ebook "Without hot Air" by Prof. D. MacKey, Univ of Cambridge. I placed my hopes in what I called The Scottish Model, which at a rapid glance appeared to have a fair amount of renewable sources, Wind, wave, hydro, and to a lessor extent Solar: PV, heating, highly qualified people through a strong University system and a tradition of engineering. Well if recent government sources are to be trusted my hunch, my intuition appears to be well founded.

Demonstration:

To quote Napoleon Boneparte (roughly) a graph, a picture, a drawing is worth a long discours:

Source: DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change)

Note 1 - The Scottish Government has announced a more challenging 2020 target for this indicator - the target is now 100% of gross electricity consumed in Scotland to come from renewable sources by 2020, WOW!

RELATED POSTS:

=> Renewable and Alternative Energy Sources Ranked_Review of solutions to global warming, air pollution, energy security_Information Overload Mastered

=> Solutions to global warming, air pollution, and energy security reviewed _Parametres used to classify and rank_Follows previous post

=> Life-Cycle Analysis of Nuclear Fuel Route_Cradle-to-Grave, GHG-CO2equivalent emissions_Nuclear Inspections

REFERENCE
Scottish Government_ performance indicators_electricity

FREE INSTITUTE of MATERIALS, MINERALS & MINING_IOM3 AWARD WINNING PEER REVIEW PAPERS

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:52:00 +0000

FREE AWARD WINNING PAPERS_NOT TO BE OVERLOOKED

The winners of the IOM3 awards for published work have now been announced. To celebrate we are making each winning article free to download for the next 6 weeks! Follow the links below:

Alan Glanvill AwardEvaluation of replication properties on moulded surface by ultrasonic injection moulding system

, Plastics, Rubber and Composites, Vol 39, No 7, September 2010, A Sato, H Sakaguchi, H Ito and K Koyama
Composite AwardUnidirectional composite in mechanical fatigue: Modelling debond growth from fibre breaks

, Plastics, Rubber and Composites, Vol 39, No 3-5, June 2010, A Pupurs and J Varna

Guy Bengough AwardLocalised corrosion of heat treated alloys
Part 1

and Part 2

, Corrosion Engineering Science and Technology, Vol 45, No 2, April 2010, G Tormoen, N Sridharand A Anderko

Billiton Gold MedalNickel, copper and cobalt distributions and equilibria in Anglo Platinum furnace slags

, Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy (Trans IMM C), Vol 119, No 2, 2010, L Andrews andP C Pistorius
Mann Redmayne Award Identifying gold losses through application of SIMS technology

, Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy (Trans IMM C), Vol 119, No 4, 2010, N Chapman, K Prince, P Evans, F Radke, P Hayward and N Lester

Douglas Hay AwardMonitoring open stope caving at Goldex Mine

, Mining Technology (Trans IMM A), Vol 119, No 3, pp 142-150, 2010,
M R Hudyma, P Frenette and I Leslie

Nominations for the 2012 awards are open until 12th December 2011. For more information on how to nominate and a description of each award, please visit the IOM3 website

If your institution does not yet subscribe to these journals, why not suggest a free trial? Institutions can trial the Materials Science & Engineering Collection for up to 6 months, completely free of charge!
Visit the Librarians Free trial page

now!

CONTACT ALSO Trustworthy Publisher Maney Press for more information on Materials Science and Engineering Publication
Jennifer Walshaw (j.walshaw)
Maney.Co.UK

Flat-panel electronic displays: a triumph of physics, chemistry and engineering

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 18:51:00 +0000

Flat-panel electronic displays: a triumph of physics, chemistry and engineering has been added to my video wall and copied to this post. The full paper doi: 10.1098/rsta.2009.0247, 13 March 2010 vol. 368 no. 1914 1027-1082 is one of 12 published on open access in the famous Royal Society publication, Phil Trans A, for mathematical, physical and engineering sciences.

Flat-panel electronic displays: a triumph of physics, chemistry and engineering_Data Supplement - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Conversations-on-Innovations: USA's National Center for Manufacturing Sciences practises what many already believe "that collaboration is innovation's incubator"

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 16:32:00 +0000

Conversations-on-Innovations: USA's National Center for Manufacturing Sciences practises what many already believe "that collaboration is innovation's incubator"

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:53:00 +0000

LINK:

Conversations-on-Innovations: USA's National Center for Manufacturing Sciences practises what many already believe "that collaboration is innovation's incubator"

As the UK Advanced Manufacturing Consortium kicks into place...

Conversations-on-Innovations: USA's National Center for Manufacturing Sciences practises what many already believe "that collaboration is innovation's incubator"

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:29:00 +0000

Conversations-on-Innovations: USA's National Center for Manufacturing Sciences practises what many already believe "that collaboration is innovation's incubator"

University Ranking Times and The Complete

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:08:00 +0000

WORLD RATINGS ARE A DOWNER FOR SCOTISH UNIVERSITIES

but things look a wee bit better on the UK only score card _ scroll down
Technology & Engineering
Times Higher Education world-university-rankings/2011-2012/ Tech & Eng
,
6 University of Cambridge, 8. University of Oxford , 9. Imperial College London

Phys-Sci 2010-2011 Phys Sci 2010-2011 2011-12 to be published 10 Nov 2011.

8 University of Cambridge, 10 University of Oxford, 13. Imperial College London

27 University of Edinburgh

For good measure
Arts and Humanities Universities 2010-2011

16 University of Edinburgh, 20 University of St. Andrews

Top 50 Social Sciences Universities 2010-2011 No Comment!

Top 50 Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health Universities 2010-2011 idem

Life Sciences

UK ONLY

UK University Subject Tables 2012 & Mechanical engineering

7	Strathclyde Just holding our own considering our history, Andersonian Inst -> The Royal College of Sci & Tech Glasgow

Business Studies

16 Strathclyde The Business School was the 1st created in 1963 my entry year!

It may be tempting to say that "it's not what you know but who you know" in terms of maintaining Univ ranking for this also is a student criteria in choosing a School but I admit to have lacked the motivation to study the above criteria in-depth - I trust the staff do this in depth

And I wonder if spin-off revenue and industrial and enterprise funding "Invention - Innovation - Marketing" enter such estimations? If they do will the Uni's loose their independence of thought, ethics and independence? Strong leadership and independent spirit will remain a premium

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

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:40:00 +0000

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.

Metallurgy for dummies_Just added to my blog list

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:51:00 +0000

I blogged this item with a colleague's project in mind "Writing elementary materials science lectures"

The topics in this blog are up-to-date subjects, images are good but for educational material I believe our college and fellow IOM3 member will bring the necessary underlying scientific principles to light/

Anyway here is the blog link which may also be found by scrolling right down to the very foot of my page...

Metallurgy for dummies

I shall be pleased to pass on any further information on such approaches to our fellow materials science colleague.

Good luck and best wishes to all contributors

Steel Strategy _ 6 MAJOR PREOCCUPATIONS IN TODAYS STEEL INDUSTRY

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:07:00 +0000

6 MAJOR PREOCCUPATIONS IN TODAY'S STEEL INDUSTRY ARE:

1-Environmental challenges,

2-The Impact of Globalisation,

3-Product Focus and Diversity,

4-Steelplant Technology,

PLUS THE TWO BOTTOM LINERS, AS ALWAYS ARE:

5. THE PEOPLE.

Steel Strategy Seminar_Graduates and Managers in Steel Industry will broaden their understanding during these five 1-day seminars, while meeting the cursed bottom line...

6 THE COSTS.

MORE...AT THE FIVE 1-DAY SEMINARS.

So say the specialists, Professional Metallurgists-Steelmakers (IOM3-Iron and Steel Society, a division of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining) and Global Sponsors, EEF The management association UK Steel, EEF The management association UK Steel, GrefTech-Graphite Industry Siemans VAI and TATA .

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

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:37:00 +0000

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

IOM3 TV_ Great new feature by The Instutute of Materials Minerals

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:36:00 +0000

Free features

1. Young Persons' World Lecture Competition, Kuala Lumpur, September 2010

- 7 lectures, all of which may be viewed and downloaded as readable Power Point documents

2 Charles Hatchett Lecture 2010

- 2 Lectures, one of which may be viewed and downloaded as readable Power Point documents
Development of niobium-alloyed large diameter pipes, by Sandrine Bremer.

IOM3-TV

Colleagues, that's not all, The Institute, IOM3 have introduced a selected You Tube video on Institute matters and videos on materials science recommended by members.
You Tube Materials Science Series (Free Viewing and may I add, recommended!)

NB. Could be my blogging initiatives especially in the Video presentation approach is not all vein

Maney Publishing - Journal-of-the-month-Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly_FREE PAPERS

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:59:00 +0000

Let me bring to the attention of my colleagues in "The Global Community of Metallurgists, Chemical Engineers and Materials Scientists", this new introductory offer of free papers (3 years of CMQ online to read or download) courtesy of our IOM3 joint publisher

Maney journal-of-the-month- Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly(cmq)

For example I personally downloaded today a few papers from the April 2011 edition concerning corrosion of carbon steels using nanoindentation , thermal barrier coatings, superalloys to mention but my first rapid perusal. I also downloaded some golden oldies from the Key paper archive on the Maney site:FREE MATERIALS LINK

Moore's Law and beyond _ Where Semiconductor Science is going_Interdisciplinary Public and Private Partnership Funded Projects in the Semiconductor Field

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:36:00 +0000

The joint NSF-NRI grants were awarded to the following projects in nanoelectronics research and can be viewed in detail at the accompanying links:
• Scalable Sensing, Storage and Computation with a Rewritable Oxide Nanoelectronics Platform, directed by Jeremy Levy at University of Pittsburgh.
• Integrated Biological and Electronic Computation at the Nanoscale, directed by Timothy Lu at MIT.

• Developing a Graphene Spin Computer: Materials, Nano-Devices, Modeling, and Circuits, directed by Roland Kawakami at University of California at Riverside.
• Meta-Capacitance and Spatially Periodic Electronic Excitation Devices (MC-SPEEDs), directed by Jonathan Spanier at Drexel University.
• Hybrid Spintronics and Straintronics: New Technology for Ultra-Low Energy Computing and Signal Processing Beyond the Year 2020, directed by Supriyo Bandyopadhyay at Virginia Commonwealth University.
• Charge-Density-Wave Computational Fabric: New State Variables and Alternative Material Implementation, directed by Alexander Balandin at University of California at Riverside.
• Ultimate Electronic Device Scaling Using Structurally Precise Graphene Nanoribbons, directed by Paulette Clancy at Cornell University.
• Nanoelectronics with Mixed-valence Molecular QCA, directed by Craig Lent at University of Notre Dame.
• Scalable Perpendicular All-Spin Non-Volatile Logic Devices and Circuits with Hybrid Interconnection, directed by Jian-Ping Wang at University of Minnesota at Twin Cities.
• Physics-Inspired Non-Boolean Computation Based on Spatial-Temporal Wave Excitations, directed by Wolfgang Porod at University of Notre Dame.
• Novel Quantum Switches Using Heterogeneous Atomically Layered Nanostructures, directed by Philip Kim at Columbia University.
• Superlattice-FETs, Gamma-L-FETs and Tunnel-FETs: Materials, Circuits and Devices for Fast, Ultra-Low Power, directed by Mark Rodwell at University of California at Santa Barbara.

These 12 NSF-NRI joint grants expand and strengthen the commitment to this public-private partnership program, which is in its sixth year.
NSF Divisions participating in this competition are the Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS) in the Directorate for Engineering, the Division of Materials Research (DMR) and the Division of Chemistry (CHE) in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and the Division of Computing and Communications Foundations (CCF) in the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering,
Companies participating in NRI are GLOBALFOUNDRIES, IBM, Intel Corporation, Micron Technology and Texas Instruments. These companies assign researchers to interact with the university teams. This kind of university-industry engagement will be instrumental in order for NRI to reach its goal of demonstrating the feasibility of novel computing devices in simple computer circuits during the next five to 10 years.

REFERENCE 1

via The regular progammed Yahoo Materials Science Search of 19 Sept 2011

Pick of the Day from my RSS feed-Reducing Metal-Metal Friction_an InnoCentive Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:26:00 +0000

Reducing Metal–Metal Friction

Call for the attention of metallurgists, materials scientist and coatings specialist:
NB. If I can be of any assistance please do not hesitate to get in touch.

AWARD: $10,000 USD | DEADLINE: 10/30/11 or 30 Oct 2011 | ACTIVE SOLVERS: 170 | POSTED: 8/30/11 or 30 Aug 2011.

The Challenge is to find a treatment that can reduce the Coefficient of Friction on stainless steel metal parts. It will be a bonus if the solution is applicable to Titanium, Aluminum and other ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. The solution could be a coating or a surface treatment.

This Challenge requires only a written proposal.

Challenge Overview

Metal to metal friction in small manufactured devices causes many problems like galling and eventually wearing out and failure of parts. The Seeker is looking for a durable treatment or coating that can reduce the Coefficient of Friction (COF) in a Metal-Metal system with various Alloys of SS, Ti and Al. Any solution must not affect the strength of the base metal.

To receive an award, the Solvers will not have to transfer their exclusive IP rights to the Seeker. Instead, they will grant to the Seeker non-exclusive license to practice their solutions.

This is a Theoretical Challenge that requires only a written proposal to be submitted. The Challenge award will be contingent upon theoretical evaluation of the proposal by the Seeker.

Call for the attention of metallurgists, materials scientist and coatings specialist:
NB. If I can be of any assistance please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Sincerely yours in materials science and engineering

Energy Sustainability Tops EPSRC List of Six Global Research Challenges

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 15:17:00 +0000

As my two previous posts have shown energy sustainability remains a primary consideration. It tops the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) list of

SIX GLOBAL RESEARCH CHALLENGES to be ADDRESSED:
1.Energy
2.Digital economy,
3. Manufacturing the future,
4. Healthcare technologies,
5. Living with environmental change
6. Global uncertainties.

Energy sustainability and better renewable energy topics are one of the main motivators for my blogging activity. I shall continue to address such topics at the risk of being boring.

Such is the importance of this subject and the quality of Energy Initiatives WW that one may safely "assess risk" (another challenge) of boredom to be small or insignificant? Here I shall add the MIT Energy Initiative to my RSS feed to the blog. To consult this feed please scroll down to the blog footer blocks. Let me draw readers attention for example to a recent advance in the form of Sun-Free-Photovoltaics

Among the many useful features in the MIT-EI figure an extensive video series both visual and script version. video series both visual and script

Foresight-Hindsight in Materials Science and Engineering _Project Portfolio Management

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 22:06:00 +0000

Following my last post “ Selection Criteria for Research Project Funding,” 8 Sept. 2011, let us continue our “Foresight –Hindsight” (marketing) exercise using a short presentation using a modified BCG matrix (4 squares)or GE/McKinsey matrix(9 squares) chart

The chart which I wish to draw to the attention of my metallurgical and materials scientist friends, members of The Institute was originally published in Materials World and archived in my personal files for more than a decade. Cf. Image 1 below. It is a nine square GE/McKinsey matrix.

-Areas of Attractiveness are represented by 3 colums- (vertical axis): 1. Emerging,2. Intermediate and 3. Key priority areas, of increasing attractiveness 1 to 3.

-Areas of Feasibility are represented by position on the horizontal axis : increasing feasibility from left to right.

Within this matrix the upper most right hand square is magnified and again divided into another 9 square matrix, “Attractiveness versus Feasibility”. Such a process both shows how this approach can be usefully refined while pragmatically bringing focus to the necessary couple, Key Priorities which are Feasible. Clear objectives can be given and so motivation increased. The challenges of the research for excellence are respected and the likelihood of impact in appropriate areas increased.

The presentation allows the representation of 9 blocks IE GE/McKinsey presentation.

The arc through the intermediate and emerging themes draws attention to the fact that the most-attractive and desireable does not always correspond to the most feasible.

Many of the themes presented in the previous post "Selection Criteria for Research Funding" EPSRC 2010 - 2013 have previously figured in the BCG - GE/McKinsey Matrix approach established at least a decade earlier (Image 1) An attempt to show this continuing preoccupation with certain themes is shown in the table below in bold characters. One reason for this is the wide nature of themes cf previous post headings:

THREE WIDE FOCUS THEMES TO IMPACT UPON.

THREE STRATEGIC GOALS.

SIX GLOBAL RESEARCH CHALLENGES to be ADDRESSED

<><><> <><><><> <>

KEY PRIORITY AREAS	Health & Life Style	Optical Tech.	Genetic & Biomolecular Eng., Bioinformatics, Communication with machines, Telerepresentation/ multimedia, Sensors & sensory information processing, Software Eng., Security & privacy tech
INTER- MEDIATE AREAS	Risk assessment & management, Design & Systems Integration, Chemical & Biological Synthesis,	Information Management, Modelling & Simulation, Catalysis, Work place & Home.	Management & Business Process Eng., *Environmentally sustainable tech.*
EMERGING AREAS	Demographic change, clean processing tech, Energy Tech, LCA, Automation.		Biomaterials, Materials Process & Control, Materials processing tech.

Feasibility---------------------->

RELATED POSTS
1. Selection Criteria for Research Project Funding 8 Sept. 20112..
2.Critical Minerals and Metals Defined 12 April 2011.

REFERENCES – EBOOKS on Forsight and Portfolio Management

1. GE/McKinsey matrix(9 squares) chart
2. Portfolio Management: Fundamental for New Product Success [pdf]
by Dr. Robert G. Cooper, Dr. Scott J. Edgett and Dr. Elko J. Kleinschmidt,
Reference Paper #12
Compliments of: Stage-Gate International and Product Development Institute Inc
3. Idea Evaluation [pdf]
4. Foresight Projects are in-depth studies examining major issues 20-80 years in the future.
5. Selection of research priorities – method of critical technologies by Karel Klusacek [pdf]
Technology Centre of the Academy of Sciences CR Rozvojova 135, 165 02 Prague 6, Czech Republic
6. Crafting a methodology for formation of R and D strategy based on evolutionary epistemology: case study of Iran power industry [pdf]

7. Priority Systems: Technical Terms Used in Project Portfolio Management

8. MIND TOOLS
9. Stakeholder Identification and Analysis Techniques, John M. Bryson, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, 245 Humphrey Center, University of Minnesota [pdf].

NB WARNING TO THE R&D Communities

OUTSOURCING !!!

Selection Criteria for Research Project Funding

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 11:57:00 +0000

Summary of UK, Selection Criteria for Research Project Funding by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

TWO MAJOR MOTIVATORS.

1. Search for Excellence

2. Impact of research results, ie. the demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy. To maximise impact goal achievement, routes to success must be envisaged and planned from the project outset. Potential of Results in the Long Term are evaluated after 4 years.

Excellence will be measured at an International Level and reviewed by peers.

THREE WIDE FOCUS THEMES TO IMPACT UPON.

Impact embraces all the extremely diverse ways research-related knowledge and skills benefit individuals, organisations and nations by –

1. Fostering global economic performance, and specifically national economic competitiveness.

2. Increasing the effectiveness of public services and policy.

3. Enhancing quality of life, health and creative output.

EVALUATION

Four-year delivery plan sets out priorities and strategies to 2013

EPSRC published a four-year delivery plan setting out our priorities and strategies to 2013.

THREE STRATEGIC GOALS –

1. Shaping capability.

2. Delivering impact.

3. Developing leaders.

SIX GLOBAL RESEARCH CHALLENGES to be ADDRESSED:

1.Energy

2.Digital economy,

3. Manufacturing the future,

4. Healthcare technologies,

5. Living with environmental change

6. Global uncertainties.

EXAMPLE OF A PARTICULARILY SUCCESSFUL PROJECT.

Full impact may be years away, but the award of the Nobel Prize for Physics 2010 to EPSRC researcher Professor Andre Geim and fellow Russian-born scientist Konstantin Novoselov for their groundbreaking work on the two dimensional material graphene.

REFERENCES.

1. MATERIALS WORLD Aug 2011 "Leading the way" (access limited to members only)

2. EPSRC
3. IMPACT WORLD

Powerful Science Search Engine -WORLDWIDESCIENCE.ORG

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 18:55:00 +0000

Those of my readers who read the previous post will notice that this finding arose from the research done to write the previous post entitled: "Superplasticity - superelasticity

SEARCH SCIENCE

KEY WORDS:

alloy,superplastic,forming

LINK

Superelastic materials

Superelasticity-Superplasticity Update _Adhoc Introductory Research Notes

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 18:15:00 +0000

Its good to be back on the blog.

This post is motivated by a news item in the R&D section of my professional house journal ,IOM3's Materials World (MW Aug 2011) entitled "High-strength alloy takes the strain" It reports briefly on Tohoku Univ. (Jp) work on superelastic materials.

Superelastic Effect in Polycrystalline Ferrous Alloys

In superelastic alloys, large deformation can revert to a memorized shape after removing the stress. However, the stress increases with increasing temperature, which limits the practical use over a wide temperature range. Polycrystalline Fe-Mn-Al-Ni shape memory alloys show a small temperature dependence of the superelastic stress because of a small transformation entropy change brought about by a magnetic contribution to the Gibbs energies. For one alloy composition, the superelastic stress varies by 0.53 megapascal/°C over a temperature range from –196 to 240°C.

T. Omori*, K. Ando, M. Okano, X. Xu, Y. Tanaka, I. Ohnuma, R. Kainuma, K. Ishida

Science 1 July 2011: 68-71.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/333/6038/68.abstract

Expanding the Repertoire of Shape Memory Alloys

The exceptional properties of many materials often come at the expense of limited performance in other areas. For example, conventional metals and their alloys are strong—they are good at resisting stress (i.e., an applied load)—but they tolerate only a very small amount of strain (i.e., deformation) before they are
irreversibly deformed. Rubber can easily return to its original shape, even after large deformations, but is much weaker than conventional metals. However, some metal alloys exhibit “shape memory”; they are strong but can recover from being deformed when heated. This process seems counterintuitive, but these alloys take advantage of solid-to-solid “diffusionless” phase transitions: The atoms rearrange how they pack into crystals in an orderly fashion, and this process changes the material's macroscopic shape. Few other materials possess this combination of strength and flexibility (see the figure), and clever engineering has exploited these properties—for example, in implanted medical devices such as stents. On page 1488 of this issue, Tanaka et al. (1) report on a superelastic alloy that almost doubles the useful range of deformation that can be induced in such alloys.

Ji Ma and Ibrahim Karaman, Science 19 March 2010: 1468-1469.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/327/5972/1468.summary

Ferrous Polycrystalline Shape-Memory Alloy Showing Huge Superelasticity

Shape-memory alloys, such as Ni-Ti and Cu-Zn-Al, show a large reversible strain of more than several percent due to superelasticity. In particular, the Ni-Ti–based alloy, which exhibits some ductility and excellent superelastic strain, is the only superelastic material available for practical applications at present. We herein describe a ferrous polycrystalline, high-strength, shape-memory alloy exhibiting a superelastic strain of more than 13%, with a tensile strength above 1 gigapascal, which is almost twice the maximum superelastic strain obtained in the Ni-Ti alloys. Furthermore, this ferrous alloy has a very large damping capacity and exhibits a large reversible change in magnetization during loading and unloading. This ferrous shape-memory alloy has great potential as a high-damping and sensor material.

Y. Tanaka1, Y. Himuro1, R. Kainuma2,*, Y. Sutou1, T. Omori1 and K. Ishida1,

Science 19 March 2010: Vol. 327 no. 5972 pp. 1488-1490

DOI: 10.1126/science.1183169

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/327/5972/1488.abstract

MATERIALS SCIENCE

OTHERS WHO REPORTED THESE FINDINGS

Fellow blogger : http://gblogger-metallurgy.blogspot.com/2010/03/ferrous-polycrystalline-shape-memory.html

My professional house journal, IOM3’s Materials World.

FUNDAMENTAL APPROACHES

REVIEWS OF TOPICAL PROBLEMS PACS numbers: 62.20.Fe, 75.30.Kz, 75.80.+q, 81.30.Kf

Shape memory ferromagnets

A N Vasil'ev, V D Buchel'nikov, T Takagi, V V Khovailo, E I Estrin

http://www.physics-online.ru/PaperLogos/5/files/Full_text_English_version.pdf

SEARCH SCIENCE

KEY WORDS: alloy,superplastic,forming

http://worldwidescience.org/topicpages/a/alloy+superplastic+forming.html

This-Above-All: Geoffrey West On the Scale and Unity of Life from Cells to Cities

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 19:50:00 +0000

This-Above-All: Geoffrey West On the Scale and Unity of Life from Cells to Cities

Just as dimensional analysis [pdf] is a fundamental tool of engineering in getting the right units and checking phenomena so too is scaling fundamental to coming to grips with complex systems.

Solar-Thermal Flat Panels Generate Electricity

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:22:00 +0000

Two technologies have dominated efforts to harness the power of the sun's energy. Photovoltaics convert sunlight into electric current, while solar-thermal power generation uses sunlight to heat water and produce thermal energy. Photovoltaic cells have been deployed widely as flat panels, while solar-thermal power generation employs sunlight-absorbing surfaces feasible in residential and large-scale industrial settings.

Because of limited material properties, solar-thermal devices have so far failed to economically generate enough electric power. The team has introduced two innovations — a better light-absorbing surface through enhanced nanostructured thermoelectric materials, which was then placed within an energy-trapping, vacuum-sealed flat panel. Combined, both measures added enhanced electricity-generating capacity to solar-thermal power technology, as reported by Zhifeng Ren, a Boston College professor of physics and a co-author of the study. The team is comprised of Gang Chen, MIT's Soderberg professor of power engineering; Boston College and MIT graduate students; and researchers at GMZ Energy, a Massachusetts clean energy research company founded by Ren and Chen.

Ren claims that their team has developed a flat panel that is a hybrid capable of generating hot water and electricity in the same system," he said. "The ability to generate electricity by improving existing technology at minimal cost makes this type of power generation self-sustaining from a cost standpoint."

Their technology involves using nanotechnology engineering methods. The researchers combined high-performance thermoelectric materials and spectrally selective solar absorbers in a vacuum-sealed chamber to boost conversion efficiency.

The findings open up a promising new approach that has the potential to achieve cost-effective conversion of solar energy into electricity, an advance that should affect the rapidly expanding residential and industrial clean energy markets, claims Ren who further comments, "Existing solar-thermal technologies do a good job generating hot water. For the new product, this will produce both hot water and electricity," he said. "Because of the new ability to generate valuable electricity, the system promises to give users a quicker payback on their investment. This new technology can shorten the payback time by one-third."

Solar-Thermal Flat Panels Generate Electricity

Iceland’s Jet Engine Stopping Volcanic Ash

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 16:40:00 +0000

Iceland’s Jet Engine Stopping Volcanic Ash

As one involved in superalloy R&D, Quality Assurance and Manufacture this tweet from Materialinsight is worth recording for future aero-engine conception, QA andmanu specs.

Thanks Materialsinsight for the info

Critical Minerals and Metals Defined

noreply@blogger.com (James Alexander) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:21:00 +0000

Minerals are part of almost all products we use.

NB. About 80% of all natural elements in the periodic table are metals.

Common examples of metals include copper (Cu) used in electrical wiring and titanium (Ti) used to make airplane frames and paint pigments (TiO2). The Information Age has ushered in a number of new mineral uses in number of products including cell phones e.g., tantalum (Ta) and liquid crystal displays e.g., indium (In). For some minerals, such as the platinum group metals used to make catalytic converters in cars, there is no substitute.

Thus economies, (consumers and industrial sectors) are strongly influenced by factors affecting supplies.

Risks to minerals supplies can include a sudden increase in demand or the possibility that natural ores can be exhausted or become too difficult to extract. Minerals are more vulnerable to supply restrictions if they come from a limited number of mines, mining companies, or nations.

The report referenced in this post NAS Report_Minerals-Critical-Minerals_12034 claims to develop a methodology to identify potentially critical minerals.

14 Key Findings:

1. All minerals and mineral products could be or could become critical to some degree, depending on their importance and availability.

2. As an indicator of vulnerable supply, import dependence by itself is not a useful indicator of risk.

3. Decision makers in both the public and the private sectors need continuous, unbiased, and thorough mineral information provided through a federally funded system of information collection and dissemination.

4. From the US federal perspective, a critical mineral is one that is both essential in use and subject to the risk of supply restriction.

5. In employing the methodology, it is important to distinguish among three time or adjustment periods: the short term, the medium term, and the long term.

6. In the short and medium terms, significant restrictions of mineral supply may be due to (1) significant increase in demand, (2) thin markets, (3) concentration of production, (4) production predominantly as a by-product, (5) lack of available old scrap for recycling or of the infrastructure required for recycling.

7. More complete information needs to be collected, and more research needs to be conducted, on the full mineral life cycle.

8 Of the 11 minerals or mineral families the committee examined,
[Cu, Ga, In, Li, Mn, Nb, PGMs (ex.Pd,Pt,Rh) REs (La,Ce...) Ta, Ti, V.]
those that exhibit the highest degree of criticalness at present are indium,(In) manganese,(Mn) niobium,(Nb) PGMs-Platinum Group Metals-Minerals, and the so called Rare Earth Metals, REs.

9. Over the longer term, the availability of minerals and mineral products is largely a function of investment and the various factors that influence the level of investment and its geographic allocation and success. The long-term availability of minerals and mineral products also requires continued investment in mineral education and research.

10. The committee concludes that US Geological Survey (USGS) Minerals Information Team activities are less robust than they might be, in part because it does not have the status or resources to function as a principal statistical agency.

11. The criticalness matrix methodology is a useful conceptual framework for evaluating a mineral's criticalness in a balanced manner in a variety of circumstances that will be useful for decision makers in the public and private sectors. A more nuanced and quantitative version of the matrix could be established and used as part of the federal program for collection, analysis, and dissemination of data on minerals.

12. The criticalness of a specific mineral can and likely will change as production technologies evolve and new products are developed.

13. The effectiveness of a government agency or program is dependent on the agency's or program's autonomy, its level of resources, and its authority to enforce data collection. Federal information gathering for minerals at present does not have sufficient authority and autonomy to appropriately carry out its data collection, dissemination, and analysis.

14. The greater the difficulty, expense, or time it takes for material substitution to occur, the more critical a mineral is to a specific application or product or analogously, the greater is the impact of a mineral supply restriction.

Minerals, Critical Minerals, and the U.S. Economy_Brief Report (2007 The National Academy of Sciences)

Minerals, Critical Minerals, and the U.S. Economy _National Academies Press (NAP) (2008)
FULL BOOK FREE TO READ ONLINE

Materials Science and Engineering Defined

Sixteen Research Roadmaps for Materials from the Directorate-General for Research Unit G3 Added- value Materials

Renewable Energy _ The Scottish Model_ Will Scotland again become a main powerhouse for UK and EU?

FREE INSTITUTE of MATERIALS, MINERALS & MINING_IOM3 AWARD WINNING PEER REVIEW PAPERS

Flat-panel electronic displays: a triumph of physics, chemistry and engineering

Conversations-on-Innovations: USA's National Center for Manufacturing Sciences practises what many already believe "that collaboration is innovation's incubator"

Conversations-on-Innovations: USA's National Center for Manufacturing Sciences practises what many already believe "that collaboration is innovation's incubator"

Conversations-on-Innovations: USA's National Center for Manufacturing Sciences practises what many already believe "that collaboration is innovation's incubator"

University Ranking Times and The Complete

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

Metallurgy for dummies_Just added to my blog list

Steel Strategy _ 6 MAJOR PREOCCUPATIONS IN TODAYS STEEL INDUSTRY

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

IOM3 TV_ Great new feature by The Instutute of Materials Minerals

1. Young Persons' World Lecture Competition, Kuala Lumpur, September 2010

- 7 lectures, all of which may be viewed and downloaded as readable Power Point documents

2 Charles Hatchett Lecture 2010

- 2 Lectures, one of which may be viewed and downloaded as readable Power Point documents Development of niobium-alloyed large diameter pipes, by Sandrine Bremer.

Maney Publishing - Journal-of-the-month-Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly_FREE PAPERS

Moore's Law and beyond _ Where Semiconductor Science is going_Interdisciplinary Public and Private Partnership Funded Projects in the Semiconductor Field

Pick of the Day from my RSS feed-Reducing Metal-Metal Friction_an InnoCentive Challenge

Energy Sustainability Tops EPSRC List of Six Global Research Challenges

Foresight-Hindsight in Materials Science and Engineering _Project Portfolio Management

Selection Criteria for Research Project Funding

Powerful Science Search Engine -WORLDWIDESCIENCE.ORG

Superelasticity-Superplasticity Update _Adhoc Introductory Research Notes

This-Above-All: Geoffrey West On the Scale and Unity of Life from Cells to Cities

Solar-Thermal Flat Panels Generate Electricity

Iceland’s Jet Engine Stopping Volcanic Ash

Critical Minerals and Metals Defined

- 2 Lectures, one of which may be viewed and downloaded as readable Power Point documents
Development of niobium-alloyed large diameter pipes, by Sandrine Bremer.