Cold rolling is a typical practice in steel coil production, used to impart desired product thickness to customer specification via deformation, thus affecting mechanical properties, texture, surface finish, amongst other features. Given the vast quantities involved in steel production across Europe, small changes in process can yield a large impact. In the cold rolling process, the final surface finish of the strip is dependent upon conditions in the roll bite of the final rolling stand; principally, this is the roughness of the roll performing the reduction, and the lubrication conditions. To maintain these conditions for long working periods before regrinding is required, rolls are chromium plated. New environmental legislation will result in this chrome plating process being no longer authorised for use. Accordingly, the search is on for successful alternative surfaces that can match the result of the current roll components whilst substituting the use of toxic agents involved for less harmful ones or avoiding their use altogether. This is a key consideration for Tata Steel in Europe and is already an area of significant exploratory work. The Research Engineer will: Review the current body of literature and current best practices within the industry on roll finish as a guide and to establish a target benchmark. Develop a theoretical understanding of the demands of the surface, and the complimentary lubrication conditions required. These conditions result in differing outcomes, either with effects on strip cleanliness with iron deposits as a result of roll wear which need to be recognised. Based on their understandings and literature review, identify alternatives to existing roll components and conduct trial work to assess the viability of prototype roll surfaces in an iterative fashion. This can apply to alternative hard coatings, different work roll grades, or via surface treatments suitable for the roll stock. Study the mechanical and microstructural effects imparted by the prototype rolls to evaluate which offers the most accommodating balance, given the nature of harder materials required to achieve good performance. Progress the understanding of the available options or propose a suitable solution to the impending problem, which is applicable to all rolling mills across Europe affected by this legislation.

This research proposal aims to analyse the role of a feeding-associated hormone in stimulating the generation of new brain cells. The ability to generate new adult brain cells is very important for normal healthy brain function. A reduced ability to form new neurones is associated with the common and debilitating brain disorders, dementia and depression. This research will use state-of-the-art tools, established by engineers, that will allow us to look at brain cells in far greater detail than previously possible. The application of these nano-scale tools to neuroscience will provide invaluable information on the precise structure and function of brain cells over time. Ultimately, this novel approach will characterise the mechanism of new brain cell generation leading to new targets for the treatment of dementia and depression.

Flow-induced vibration can occur in many engineering systems and structures such as bridges, transmission lines, aircraft control surfaces, offshore structures, marine cables, and other hydrodynamic applications. A novel approach to attenuate such vibrations could be the application of mechanical metamaterials, which are artificial engineering materials having unique elastic wave propagation properties based on the existence of stop and pass bands originating from the material or geometric periodicity. Nonlinear energy sinks are having a wider frequency band of vibration attenuation than linear vibration absorbers due to strong nonlinear stiffness. This project aims at taking the functionality of metamaterials to the next level by performing the design, modeling and experimental aspects of advanced materials research by combining the features of a hysteretic nonlinear energy sink, energy harvesting, dissipation effects and tuning of metamaterial properties based on magnetorheological composite in the metamaterial subunit design. This, in turn, will give rise to a novel class of semi-active magnetorheologically tuned metamaterials (MTMs) for flow-induced wing flutter and pipeline vibration control using linear and nonlinear approaches for bandgap forming, vibration attenuation, and energy harvesting. The computational framework based on numerical and semi-numerical methods together with pseudo-arc continuation techniques will be developed to discover dispersion characteristics of linear models, and frequency-responses and bifurcation points of nonlinear models. Novel 3D printing techniques will be developed for the fabrication of MTMs with magnetorheological composite. Experiments will serve to validate mathematical models and identify parameters of the nonlinear MTM models for the purpose of numerical simulations. Optimization procedures will be carried out to maximize the efficiency of developed metamaterials for flutter and pipeline vibration control.

The EPSRC UK National Mass Spectrometry Facility (NMSF) is available for academics eligible for EPSRC funding. The NMSF provides access to expertise and state-of-the-art instrumentation in the field of mass spectrometry for the collection and interpretation of data to assist Chemists, Biologists, Engineers, and Analytical Scientists working within the remit of EPSRC in structural determination and compound characterisation. Data analysis consultations, where raw data is provided by a User for expert analysis, is also offered on a case-by-case basis. For further information see: http://nmsf.swan.ac.uk/

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.