Category: PhD

BCI Doctoral Research Symposium 2023

Posted on by jo.rich

On 4 April 2023 the Bristol Composites Institute (BCI) welcomed over 100 delegates from academia and industry to the Bill Brown Design Suite, Queen’s Building, for its annual Doctoral Research Symposium.

Attendees of BCI Symposium listening to a presentation

Doctoral students from the BCI, including 38 students from the EPSRC CDT in Composites Science, Engineering and Manufacturing (CoSEM CDT), showcased their innovative composites research through an impressive display of posters and presentations. 

Delegates were treated to a rapid-fire journey through the cutting-edge of composites research, with 25 presentations on topics spanning all three themes of the institute. Slides can be found on the Symposium webpage; recordings will be added to the BCI YouTube Channel.  

Posters from the day were collated into an electronic Poster Booklet.

Attendee stood next to their poster board

Congratulations to all the winners of the poster competition:

  • Delegate vote: Charles de Kergariou. (Runners up: Stefania Akromah and Tom Brereton) 
  • Student vote: Stefania Akromah. (Runners up: Charlie Brewster and Charles De Kergariou) 

 

Documenting the morning’s events was local artist, Helen Frost. Her Graphic visualisation of the Symposium gives a flavour of what it was like to be there on the day.  

An artist drawing illustrations across a large canvas

Following the Symposium, students attended an industry-led discussion panel, comprising experts from Airbus UpNext, GKN Aerospace, Leonardo Helicopters, Sigmatex UK and Vertical Aerospace. Student Nuhaadh Mahid remarked that this “provided the rare opportunity to clarify industry-related questions about their current projects and reasoning behind various design choices.” 

 

To cap off the day staff and students gathered in the Wills Memorial Building for the Symposium dinner to mark the culmination of another year of hard work.

BCI Co-Director, Prof. Ole Thomsen, said: “The display of high-quality research of our BCI doctoral students was truly impressive. This was duly noted and recognised by the external attendees including project partners. It was indeed a good day for BCI!” 

Attendee stood next to their poster board

Two attendees looking at poster board

BCI / NCC Joint Annual Conference, 10 November 2022

Posted on by jo.rich

Last November, the Bristol Composites Institute and National Composites Centre presented the 2022 BCI NCC Joint Annual Conference, which addressed some of the key engineering challenges of our time, particularly focusing on how composites will ensure a net zero future for the UK.

The conference showcased the cross-TRL work we conduct together and how we can work in partnership with industry to advance and optimise their technology developments and fast-track innovation.

The morning session included updates from the NCC and BCI on their work in Sustainability, Hydrogen and Digital and the afternoon session focused on transitional research and how the gap between the technology readiness levels can be bridged. There was also a keynote presentation from Kate Barnard (WhatBox – Consultants facilitating mutually beneficial partnerships (whatboxltd.com)) which was followed by a panel session chaired by Michele Barbour and featured Matt Scott, Valeska Ting, Evangelos Zympeloudis, Kate Robson-Brown and Musty Rampuri and sparked plenty of thoughtful discussions between guests and speakers.

The conference, which was held at the NCC in Emersons Green, Bristol, welcomed over 60 people in-person, and had an additional 40 online attendees. Details of the 2023 joint conference will be released later in the year.

Guests listening to a presentation at the conference Guests listening to a presentation at the conference

Why you should consider the EngD route for your doctorate study…

Posted on by jo.rich

The Industrial Doctorate Centre in Composites Manufacture (IDC) is pleased to announce that we are seeking high calibre candidates to take up one of five fully funded EngD studentships based at the National Composites Centre (NCC) – the UK’s leading mid-TRL innovation facility in composite materials.

To apply complete and submit this online form and send your CV and transcript of results to Helen.Howard@bristol.ac.uk

Why an EngD?

Patrick Sullivan, an EngD student currently based at the NCC, says

“ The ethos of an EngD is to work in industry as if you are a full time employee, fully embedded in your organisation’s system’s and structures, but to work towards your long term research and academic goal as your thesis approaches. The industry focus is beneficial for steering your research in a meaningful way, allowing greater impact and dissemination of your work. 

The appeal of an EngD is that you stay in the academic loop where innovation rules with the freedom to pursue research topics and work with world leading academics. But you are also driven by the focus of your industrial sponsor and their need to see the impact of the research on live projects. ”

As a successful applicant, you will be based at the National Composites Centre (NCC) and will work on novel, yet industrially focused, cutting-edge research, whilst following a taught programme at University of Bristol. The projects will cover a wide range of NCC’s strategic areas with a focus on using digital manufacturing with composite materials to solve urgent issues towards sustainability.

Financially it makes sense too.

Successful applicants will receive an enhanced tax-free stipend of £23,730 a year, a fee waiver and a generous allowance to support training.

 

Why the EngD works for industry.

The NCC has supported the Industrial Doctorate Centre (IDC) in Composites Manufacture for many years. Matt Scott, Chief Engineer for Capability at NCC, says

“ We find that our deep partnership with the IDC allows us to solve two pressing needs. Firstly, it gives us a mechanism to set motivated and tenacious minds on solving some of the research challenges that a commercial context by itself may not easily allow for. Secondly, it allows us to train the leaders of tomorrow towards an exciting and fulfilling career in the composites sector and beyond. ”

The topics you could be working on.

We are seeking highly motivated and committed individuals with an eye on the future, who are interested in conducting stimulating and essential industrial research and have a passion for finding sustainable solutions in areas such as:

  • Low-carbon concrete.
  • Through-Life Damage and Environmental Assessment.
  • Recycled Fibre/Matrix Interfacial Properties
  • Composite Shielding against Directed Energy Weapons
  • High-Rate Automated Deposition of CFRP for rapid production of aircraft wings.
  • Advanced Tooling for Aerospace Composites
  • Large Scale Rapid Infusion of wings.
  • In-Process Material Inspection and Verification of Aerospace Parts.
  • Digital Passport for Re-Using Aerospace Manufacturing Waste.

For more information about the topics you could be exploring visit our website here.

Professor Janice Barton, Director of the IDC, says;

“ If you are interested in studying for a doctorate at University of Bristol, being involved in the activities of Bristol Composites Institute and have a passion to explore sustainable composites solutions to address NetZero challenges then please consider applying to be part of our inclusive and dynamic programme in Composites Engineering. ”

What you need to bring.

Applicants must hold/achieve a minimum of a 2:1 MEng or merit at Masters level or equivalent in engineering, physics or chemistry. Applicants without a master’s qualification may be considered on an exceptional basis, provided they hold a first-class undergraduate degree. Please note, acceptance will also depend on evidence of readiness to pursue a research degree and performance at interview.

Due to visa restrictions these posts are available to Home/EU (UK settled status) with permanent UK residency.

To apply complete this online form and send your CV and transcript of results to Helen.Howard@bristol.ac.uk

If you have any further questions about our programme, or if you would like to have an informal chat with Professor Barton or a current EngD student, please do get in touch by e-mail.

Helen Howard, IDC Manager Helen.Howard@bristol.ac.uk

Two BCI students win Best Presentation prize at International Conference MIMS22

Posted on by jo.rich
by Fabrizio Scarpa

Congratulations to Mengzhou Yang and Wenfei Ji from the Bristol Composites Institute and the School of Chemistry of the University of Bristol for jointly winning the Best Student Presentation prize at the Multiscale Innovative Materials and Structures conference in Cetara. Mengzhou has presented the paper: “Numerical and experimental study of non-rigid foldable Origami bellows”, while Wenfei has described her work in: “Preparation of nanoclay/polymer coating for flexible polyurethane foam and the improvement of mechanical performance”.

Mengzhou is mainly supervised by Mark Schenk, Wenfei by Jeroen van Duijneveldt and Wuge Briscoe. Fabrizio Scarpa is co-supervisor of both students. The Bristol Composites Institute was well represented in the conference, with other presentations made by Xindi Yu, Keyao Song and Gianni C. on novel tensegrity structures, beetle elytra and Tesla valve acoustic metamaterials. The work of the students has been supported by China Scholarship Council, UKRI and European Research Council (ERC). Special thanks go to the University of Bristol Engineering and Faculty of Sciences of the University for the further support provided to the students. MIMS22 has been an excellent conference showcasing top speakers in the field of metamaterials and architected materials.

A collage of photos showing the Amalfi coast and BCI students winning their award at the MIMS22 event

Natural Fibre Composites Research

Posted on by jo.rich

Testing the Mechanical Performance of Nature Fibre Composites.

Head shot of Owen Tyley by Owen Tyley owen.tyley.2019@bristol.ac.uk; Tobias Laux tobi.laux@bristol.ac.uk; Neha Chandarana neha.chandarana@bristol.ac.uk 

Manufacturers are increasingly looking to develop new natural fibre composites (NFCs) to lower the environmental impact of structures such as wind turbine blades and automotive panelling. For these to be brought to market, their mechanical performance must be understood throughout their operating temperature range. This is ordinarily conducted using strain gauges, though the cost of purchasing and installing strain gauges makes this a relatively expensive undertaking. By contrast, digital image correlation (DIC) is an optically-based imaging technique which can determine the strains on an object such as a standardised testing coupon, at much lower cost. However, the reliability of DIC for composite coupons at elevated temperatures is not well-understood. 

Black and white photo of natural fibre composites

As part of a summer internship project supported by the Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials, the tensile moduli of flax- and carbon-fibre reinforced polymers using both DIC and strain gauges at temperatures up to 120°C were compared. Preliminary results suggest that the modulus as determined through DIC is the same as for strain gauges, but with greater uncertainties. It is therefore suggested that DIC could be a suitable method for determining the mechanical properties of NFCs for non-safety-critical applications, and as part of early-stage research and development for new natural-fibre composites. 

 

Flax: A sustainable alternative to glass fibres in wind turbines?

 

 

 

by Abdirahman Sheik Hassan a.sh.2019@bristol.ac.uk; Neha Chandarana neha.chandarana@bristol.ac.uk ; Terence Macquart

Flax-fibre composites have been widely praised as a high-performance sustainable alternative to synthetic fibres in the composites industry. However, as with many natural fibre composites, the mechanical properties (strength, stiffness) of flax-fibre composites do not match up to their synthetic counterparts. This study assesses the suitability of flax-fibre reinforced composites as a replacement for glass-fibre composites in the context of a wind turbine blade using a life cycle engineering approach.Research on a computer screen Finite element analysis (FEA) was used to determine the design alterations required for comparable performance, followed by a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment to ascertain the subsequent environmental impact of these alterations. The preliminary results show a significantly greater volume of material is required in a flax-fibre blade to match reserve factor and deflection requirements; however, these models do show reduced environmental impact compared with the glass-fibre composite blades. End-of-life options assessed include landfill and incineration, with and without energy reclamation. 

 

Amphiphilic Cellulous for Emulsion Stabilisation and Thermoplastic Composites.

Headshot of Amaka Onyianta Headshot of Steve Eichhorn by Amaka Onyianta a.j.onyianta@bristol.ac.uk; Steve Eichhorn s.j.eichhorn@bristol.ac.uk

Biobased polymers, commonly referred to as bioplastics, are made from plant or other biological material instead of petroleum. They, therefore, present opportunities for the development of sustainable plastics from a wide range of pre-cursors including corn, vegetable oil and cellulose. Cellulose, the most abundant polymer on earth, is also renewable material available from vast resources such as wood, plant, bacteria and even sea animal tunicates. Considerable research efforts have been put into developing cellulose-based biopolymers. However, despite all its advantages, cellulose due to its hydrophilic (water-loving) nature presents a significant challenge with respect to blending with other polymers which are often hydrophobic (water-repelling).  

Diagram showing amphiphilic cellulose coated polypropylene composites

To address this challenge, our group is exploring surface modification of cellulose to make it hydrophobic. One such modification we have investigated results in a material that is not only hydrophobic, but largely retains the inherent hydrophilicity of cellulose, leading to an all-new class of material: amphiphilic cellulose. Due to this amphiphilic nature, the cellulose can stabilise oil-in-water emulsions, making it attractive for various applications including in the personal care products sector where consumer desire for nature-based products is increasingly driving demand.    

It is also recognised that while material sources can be sustainable, processing techniques also need to be sustainable for this credential to hold for the final product. Work within our group is therefore also looking into aqueous processing of amphiphilic cellulose with thermoplastics to yield biobased sustainable composite materials with improved tensile modulus. Moreover, the melting profile of the thermoplastic is not affected by the process, neither is a pre-step of compounding needed as seen in the traditional process for incorporation of fillers in thermoplastic composites.  

Working with Airbus in Composite Manufacturing R&T

Posted on by Bristol Composites Institute

We interviewed Bristol Composites Institute PhD student Michael O’Leary about his PhD project and the mutual benefits of working with Airbus on a cutting-edge research project.

How did you end up studying at the Bristol Composites Institute?

man looking at the camera smiling
Michael O’Leary

On leaving school, I realised I wanted to pursue a degree in Engineering, eventually specialising in Aeronautical Engineering and graduating with my bachelors from the University of Limerick. I had my final year project examined by Professor Paul Weaver, who recommended applying to the Bristol Composites Institute for PhD.

I decided that the Centre for Doctoral Training would be a great fit for me as I had enjoyed the research aspect of my final year. The collaborative environment of the CDT, being surrounded by people with similar research interests and skills, was a great selling point for me.

What are you working on?

My project is focused on integrated structures with semi-cured elements.

For future wing structure, we are moving towards more highly integrated and larger structures. As we make these integrated structures, we start to encounter some of the manufacturing challenges associated with the scale, such as element alignment and complexity.

The objective of my project is to break the integrated structure back down into smaller pieces and use them semi-cured as a building block to bring them back together. For instance, the state of the art for current structures manufacturing is using a skin, bonded stringers, and bolted ribs. Why not semi-cure each individual part and integrate them all together for a final cure?

How do you manufacture integrated structures with semi-cured elements?

The manufacturing process is a two-step curing process. The initial step is to create the semi-cured elements with a pre-designated degree of curing, somewhere between uncured and fully cured, hence the name. After the curing process, the semi-cured element can be stored, trimmed, and inspected. If they are of acceptable quality, they can then be integrated.

What are some of the manufacturing challenges when using semi-cured elements?

The main manufacturing challenges that we are facing are about determining the degree of curing and scaling, especially for more complex geometries as there are tooling requirements that can complicate the process.

Regardless of specimen manufacturing method fibre bridging was witnessed during DCB testing
Double Cantilever Beam tests were carried out on initially semi-cured and normal, single step, fully cured laminates, with both sample sets displaying similar failure patterns, and failure loads.

What are the next steps for this work?

The next steps are to continue to determine the optimal degree of cure for semi-curing along with better understanding how semi-cured interfaces are forming. Outside of this, we will continue to prove the feasibility of semi-curing by starting to produce parts at a scale greater than coupon level.

How will the project results benefit the academic and industrial project partners?

Proving the feasibility of this work will provide the industry with an additional manufacturing tool that they can use when designing future structures. Hopefully, my work will lead to further questions which can be posed to incoming PhD candidates.

How has your cooperation with industrial partners supported the development of this project or your skills?

My primary industrial partner is Airbus. The industrial supervisors have been very helpful and supportive providing important technical knowledge and ideas which have made their way into my work. Having an industrial project gives a different perspective, it really helps me to see how my work can be applied in the real world.

Through this industrial project, I had the opportunity to interact with one of the world’s largest aerospace manufacturers. It has helped foster relationships which would not have been possible outside of this project.