This is an application for a Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) from the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester in Advanced Metallic Systems which will be directed by Prof Panos Tsakiropoulos and Prof Phil Prangnell. The proposed DTC is in response to recent reviews by the EPSRC and government/industrial bodies which have indentified the serious impact of an increasing shortage of personnel, with Doctorate level training in metallic materials, on the global competitiveness of the UK's manufacturing and defence capability. Furthermore, future applications of materials are increasingly being seen as systems that incorporate several material classes and engineered surfaces into single components, to increase performance.The primary goal of the DTC is to address these issues head on by supplying the next generation of metallics research specialists desperately needed by UK plc. We plan to attract talented students from a diverse range of physical science and engineering backgrounds and involve them with highly motivated academic staff in a variety of innovative teaching and industrial-based research activities. The programme aims to prepare graduates for global challenges in competitiveness, through an enhanced PhD programme that will:1. Challenge students and promote independent problem solving and interdiscpilnarity,2. Expose them to industrial innovation, exciting new science and the international research community, 3. Increase their fundamental skills, and broaden them as individuals in preparation for future management and leadership roles.The DTC will be aligned with major multidisciplinary research centres and with the strong involvement of NAMTEC (the National Metals Technology Centre) and over twenty companies across many sectors. Learning will be up to date and industrially relevant, as well as benefitting from access to 30M of state-of-the art research facilities.Research projects will be targeted at high value UK strategic technology sectors, such as aerospace, automotive, power generation, renewables, and defence and aim to:1. Provide a multidisciplinary approach to the whole product life cycle; from raw material, to semi finished products to forming, joining, surface engineering/coating, in service performance and recycling via the wide skill base of the combined academic team and industrial collaborators.2. Improve the basic understanding of how nano-, micro- and meso-scale physical processes control material microstructures and thereby properties, in order to radically improve industrial processes, and advance techniques of modelling and process simulation.3. Develop new innovative processes and processing routes, i.e. disruptive or transformative technologies.4. Address challenges in energy by the development of advanced metallic solutions and manufacturing technologies for nuclear power, reduced CO2 emissions, and renewable energy. 5. Study issues and develop techniques for interfacing metallic materials into advanced hybrid structures with polymers, laminates, foams and composites etc. 6. Develop novel coatings and surface treatments to protect new light alloys and hybrid structures, in hostile environments, reduce environmental impact of chemical treatments and add value and increase functionality. 7. Reduce environmental impact through reductions in process energy costs and concurrently develop new materials that address the environmental challenges in weight saving and recyclability technologies. This we believe will produce PhD graduates with a superior skills base enabling problem solving and leadership expertise well beyond a conventional PhD project, i.e. a DTC with a structured programme and stimulating methods of engagement, will produce internationally competitive doctoral graduates that can engage with today's diverse metallurgical issues and contribute to the development of a high level knowledge-based UK manufacturing sector.

To avoid global warming and our unsustainable dependence on fossil fuels, the UK's CO2 emissions are recommended to be reduced by 80% from current levels by 2050. Aerospace and automotive manufacturing are critical to the UK economy, with a turnover of 30 billion and employing some 600,000 worker. Applications for light alloys within the transport sector are projected to double in the next decade. However, the properties and cost of current light alloy materials, and the associated manufacturing processes, are already inhibiting progress. Polymer composites are too expensive for body structures in large volume vehicle production and difficult to recycle. First generation, with a high level of recycling, full light alloy aluminium and magnesium vehicles in production are cheaper and give similar weight savings (~ 40%) and life cycle CO2 footprint to low cost composites. Computer-based design tools are also playing an increasing role in industry and allow, as never before, the optimisation of complex component architectures for increased mass efficiency. High performance alloys are still dominant in aeroengine applications and will provide ~ 30% of the structural components of future aircraft designs, where they will have to be increasingly produced in more intricate component shapes and interfaced with composite materials.To achieve further weight reductions, a second generation of higher performance light alloy design solutions are thus required that perform reliably in service, are recyclable, and have more complex product forms - produced with lower cost, energy efficient, manufacturing processes. With design optimisation, and by combining the best attributes of advanced high strength Al and Mg alloys with composites, laminates, and cheaper steel products, it will be possible to produce step change in performance with cost-effective, highly mass efficient, multi-material structures.This roadmap presents many challenges to the materials community, with research urgently required address the science necessary to solve the following critical issues: How do we make more complex shapes in higher performance lower formability materials, while achieving the required internal microstructure, texture, surface finish and, hence, service and cosmetic properties, and with lower energy requirements? How do we join different materials, such as aluminium and magnesium, with composites, laminates, and steel to produce hybrid materials and more mass efficient cost-effective designs? How do we protect such multi-material structures, and their interfaces against corrosion and environmental degradation?Examples of the many scientific challenges that require immediate attention include, how can we: (i) capture the influence of a materials deformation mechanisms, microstructure and texture on formability, thus allowing computer models to be used to rapidly optimise forming for difficult alloys in terms of component shape and energy requirements; (ii) predict and control detrimental interfacial reactions in dissimilar joints; (iii) take advantage of innovative ideas, like using lasers to 'draw on' more formable microstructures in panels, where it is needed; (v) use smart self healing coating technologies to protect new alloys and dissimilar joints in service, (vi) mitigate against the impact of contamination from recycling on growth of oxide barrier coating, etc.A high priority for the Programme is to help fill the skills gap in metallurgical and corrosion science, highlighted in the EPSRC Review of Materials Research (IMR2008), by training the globally competitive, multidisciplinary, and innovative materials engineers needed by UK manufacturing. The impact of the project will be enhanced by a professionally managed, strategic, research Programme and through promoting a high international profile of the research output, as well as by performing an advocacy role for materials engineering to the general public.

Achieving the carbon target for steel and aluminium requires an industry-wide transformation which will result in new business models and new metal flows. The proposal aims to identify credible scenarios for achieving the target, to specify the barriers to achieving them, and to define the economic and policy measures required to drive change. In parallel, the proposal aims to deliver basic technology research that will allow more options for a future materially efficient steel and aluminium economy.It is widely agreed that a cut of at least 60% in global greenhouse gas emissions will be required by 2050 to limit the adverse effects of climate change. Steel and aluminium are responsible for 8% of global energy related emissions. Industry efforts to date have focused on reducing energy in primary production, and recycling metal by melting and re-casting. However, demand for both steel and aluminium is forecast to double, recycling rates are already around 60-70% and the most optimistic projections for energy efficiency improvements deliver only 30% reduction per unit output of material. Efficiency improvements alone are not sufficient, but the 2050 target can be achieved if, in addition to existing measures, energy used in converting ingots to products is halved, the volume of metal used in each application is reduced, and a substantial fraction of metal is re-used without melting. In pursuing this strategy, this proposal is aligned with the EPSRC strategic theme on energy demand reduction.The need for clarity about the physical implications of responding to the carbon target has become a major priority in the metal producing and using industry. Without the work described in this proposal, it is not possible for the government, industry and the public to understand and negotiate the choices they must collectively make in order to meet the carbon target in this sector. Accordingly, this proposal comes with support of 2 million in committed effort from 20 global companies, all with operations in the UK. The business activities of the consortium span primary metal production, conventional recycling, equipment manufacture, road transport, construction, aerospace, packaging and knowledge transfer.The work of the fellowship will be split between business analysis and technology innovation themes. The business analysis theme will identify future scenarios, barriers and a roadmap for meeting the target. This work will include specific analysis of future metal flows, application of a global economic model and the analysis of policy measures. The technology innovation theme aims to optimize the requirements for metal use through novel manufacturing process design, to increase material and energy efficiency in forming and finishing, and to develop solid-state closed-loop recycling for metals. Both themes will be developed in collaboration with the consortium, and will also draw on an international scientific panel and a cross-disciplinary advisory panel in Cambridge.The work will lead to two major reports for wide distribution, direct dissemination into the partner companies, training courses, technology assessments and physical demonstrations of the technology innovations. These will include a demonstration for public engagement. The results of the work on steel and aluminium will be used to stimulate interest among business leaders in other sectors, and will form the basis for a longer term Centre for Low Carbon Materials Processing in Cambridge.The Leadership Fellowship offers a unique and timely opportunity to undertake the basic research required to drive a step-change in material efficiency, by demonstrating that a different flow of metal through the global economy is technically and economically possible, and by inspiring and informing those who can influence change.

Metallic materials are used in an enormous range of applications, from everyday objects, such as aluminium drinks cans and copper wiring to highly-specialised, advanced applications such as nickel superalloy turbine blades in jet engines and stainless steel nuclear reactor pressure vessels. Despite advances in the understanding of metallic materials and their manufacture, significant challenges remain. Research in advanced metallic systems helps us to understand how the structure of a material and the way it is processed affects its properties and performance. This knowledge is essential for us to develop the materials needed to tackle current challenges in energy, transport and sustainability. We must learn how to use the earth's resources in a sustainable way, finding alternatives for rare but strategically important elements and increasing how much material we recycle and reuse. This will partly be achieved through developing manufacturing and production processes which use less energy and are less wasteful and through improving product designs or developing and improving the materials we use. In order to deliver these new materials and processes, industry requires a lot more specialists who have a thorough understanding of metallic materials science and engineering coupled with the professional and technical leadership skills to apply this expertise. The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Advanced Metallic Systems will increase the number of metallurgical specialists, currently in short supply, by training high level physical science and engineering graduates in fundamental materials science and engineering in preparation for doctoral level research on challenging metallic material and manufacturing problems. By working collaboratively with industry, while undertaking a comprehensive programme of professional skills training, our graduates will be equipped to be tomorrow's research leaders, knowledge workers and captains of industry.

The Cranfield IMRC vision is to grow the existing world class research activity through the development and interaction between:Manufacturing Technologies and Product/Service Systems that move UK manufacturing up the value chain to provide high added value manufacturing business opportunities.This research vision builds on the existing strengths and expertise at Cranfield and is complementary to the activities at other IMRCs. It represents a unique combination of manufacturing research skills and resource that will address key aspects of the UK's future manufacturing needs. The research is multi-disciplinary and cross-sectoral and is designed to promote knowledge transfer between sectors. To realise this vision the Cranfield IMRC has two interdependent strategic aims which will be pursued simultaneously:1.To produce world/beating process and product technologies in the areas of precision engineering and materials processing.2.To enable the creation and exploitation of these technologies within the context of service/based competitive strategies.