Dr Steve Barrett from the University of Liverpool, UK, has been studying
rare earth metals for 20 years. Here he explains how preparation of the
surface layer is crucial to the functionality of these scarce elements.
There are constant warnings about the risks of exhausting supply of
vital resources, including the impact on our way of life. Professor
Animesh Jha, from the Institute for Materials Research at the University
of Leeds, UK, examines the sources of rare earth elements and the
research driving their use in emerging technologies.
Making buildings and structures safer in the event of a terrorist attack
is key to national security. Scientists from the University of Bath, UK, explore how to predict the
behaviour of reinforced concrete columns that are strengthened with
fibre-reinforced polymers.
A 30-year project to harmonise EU legislation on food-contact plastics
is nearly at an end. Dr Alistair Irvine, Principle Consultant in Food
Packaging Safety at Pira International, in Leatherhead, UK, reports.
Perceptions that the UK is lagging behind or is non-existent in the field of space exploration could not be more wrong. Guy Richards is on a mission to find out more.
Transparent glass matrix composites for use in high resistance
structures and security windows are being explored by a team at Imperial
College London.
While much sports apparatus must be light and stiff, favouring composites and polymers, the transfer of force from product to athlete needs to be considered. The ability to alter dynamic properties in polymeric and polymer-matrix composites allows optimisation of these materials for sport.
Nanotechnology development in the UK is at a critical phase. The Chairman of the Institute's Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology Group takes a look at the industry and its goals for the future.
Techniques to image materials at the micron scale and below include scanning and transmission electron microscopes (SEM and TEM) and scanning probe microscopes (SPM). The dynamical behaviour of nano-objects is quite different from those of ‘bulk’ materials. The development of SPM probes for electron microscopes is enabling real-time testing of nanovolumes of material, and is providing the opportunity to make movies of nanomaterials in motion.
