Young Persons' Lecture Competition (YPLC)

Georgina Burgoyne Morris - Winner

South East

Georgie is a first year PhD student at the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge, where she stayed having completed her undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences, specialising in Materials Science. Her research, within the Photoactive Materials group, surrounds the development of self-healing polymeric hosts for triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion – a process by which the efficiency of solar cells could be boosted through the ability to usefully harvest sub-bandgap photons.

When she’s not in the lab, Georgie enjoys cooking, playing music, and going to pub quizzes.

Stimuli-responsive polymers as self-healing materials

The ability to autonomously repair damage can lead to significant improvements in lifetime and recyclability of polymeric materials, reducing both waste and production costs. This may be achieved either extrinsically, through the release of healing agents encapsulated in the polymer matrix, or intrinsically, as a result of dynamic interactions between the polymer chains themselves. The latter systems have the advantage that their healing ability is not reliant upon the presence of a secondary reactive species, giving potential to repair more extensive or repeated damage.

This talk will discuss how, through tuning their chemistry, polymers can be made to intrinsically self-heal under ambient conditions, or in response to external stimuli such as heat or light. It will also explore the variety of applications for these materials, from healable protective coatings to recyclable thermoset resins.

Toby Reid - 2nd place

Midlands

Toby is a Non-Metallic Materials Engineer at Rolls-Royce Aerospace, specialising in elastomeric, sealing, and composite materials where he focuses on operational support for the delivery of Roll-Royce Civil engines as well as research and development into future sealing solutions for the next generation of Aerospace technologies.

Prior to this he spent 5 years at Loughborough University where he did a Master’s degree in Materials Engineering with specialisation and research into novel elastomer nanomaterial composites. While at university, he spent a year in industry researching and prototyping new materials for Parker Meggitt Aerospace where he developed a novel patent pending elastomer composite material with unique fireproof properties.

Outside of work Toby enjoys multiple sporting activities including rowing, cycling, sailing, and running alongside hobbies like woodworking and photography.

Row row row your boat: A look at the history and materials used in high performance rowing boats

Rowing has come a long way, as one of the oldest sports in the world starting as far back as 3000BC, to London water taxis racing along the Thames in the 1900s through to the elite level of the modern Olympic games. Rowing has seen some of the most dramatic changes in materials composition, development, testing and modelling as any sport or industry in modern times.

From master carpenters constructing long ships through to the first composite boats made from papier-mâché in 1870 and beyond into the high-performance aerospace grade composites and metals used in modern racing shells today. In a sport where medals are won and lost my millimetres, materials have played a crucial role as athletes and manufactures look to maximise all aspects of performance.

This presentation will look at the past, present and future of materials, the development of new manufacturing methods and how materials can make a boat the length of a bus carrying over 1 tonne of rowers weigh less than 100kg.

Phil Smith - 3rd place

South West & South Wales

Phil is a third year PhD student studying Physics and Materials Science at the University of Bristol. He completed his undergraduate chemistry degree at the University of Plymouth, where he worked on biofuels as a solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Phil moved to Bristol to pursue his interests in reaching Net Zero by researching nuclear fuels and how they may be improved. During his studies, Phil has been thoroughly involved in his community, holding many representative positions and highlighting financial challenges faced by PGRs through independent research. He has been able to improve the understanding of peers, academics and executives, through a series of conversations and talks.

Outside of research, Phil enjoys football, surfing and music. Regularly playing live music to audiences throughout the City of Bristol.

Improving Advanced Nuclear Fuel 

Improving advanced technology fuels (ATF) can be an important step to achieving a cost-effective, long-term future of carbon free energy. Uranium mononitride, offers improvements in thermal conductivity and fissile density when compared with UO₂ fuel, but has been shown to degrade faster in air and water.

Previous research with thin film samples at the University of Bristol, found that UN is more resistant to corrosion by hydrogen peroxide, which simulates radiolytic conditions of a fission reactor, and this presented work considers how a metal dopant may prolong corrosion further. However, it was found when analysed by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) that the addition of niobium, as a dopant into the solid solution of UN, caused a faster shrinking of the crystal lattice than expected.

This talk will cover the synthesis of niobium doped UN and discuss the possible reasons for reduced lattice parameters, and the ways to explore the hypotheses.

Thomas Hughes

North West & North Wales

Thomas is currently a PhD student at Manchester University on the AMS CDT working on in situ testing for fusion materials. He's working with the UKAEA and STEP to design and use a test rig to simulate fusion environments and look at synergistic effects of radiation damage, tensile testing, heat loads, irradiation creep etc. He likes trying to make problems as simple as possible, as trying to explain what he does to anyone is like speaking gibberish!

His presentation will try break down the problems fusion materials scientists face and how to deal with them, hopefully you'll find it as interesting as he does.

Materials Design for Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear fusion contains one of the most hostile environments for any material to face – high heat, load, and irradiation in an electromagnetic condition. The choice of materials to withstand such an environment is a key discussion, and perhaps the main hurdle to overcome if fusion is to progress. This short lecture will focus on the material challenges faced, design choices to overcome these challenges with an aim to provide a background on first wall design for Tokamak style reactors. 

Work will focus on key components like divertor design in ITER and similar reactors. This will be supplemented with the PhD work of simulating this environment outside of a reactor with in-situ testing for synergistic effects. 

Henry Saunders

North East

Henry is a first year PhD student researching into metal additive manufacturing (AM) at the University of Sheffield’s Henry Royce Institute. First drawn to the field of AM during his Master’s research project, utilising the technology to manufacture a rocket engine in a bid to be the first student team in the UK to build and test a liquid rocket engine.

During the project, I encountered a problem, the defect concentration in my additively manufactured parts was varying based on the geometry of the part I was building. Coincidently two of the postdocs in my research group were working on a solution for the problem that I had encountered. Recognising the commercial potential of this solution I turned down the job offer I had with an AM start up and set about following my ambitions to build my own. 

Outside of his research and entrepreneurial activities, Henry enjoys running and climbing, making the most of the nearby Peak District. 

Programmable microstructures: Unleashing the potential of engineering alloys with metal additive manufacturing

As we strive towards achieving our net zero targets, optimising the utilisation of engineering materials is crucial. By having control over the grain structure of metals, we can enhance the performance of parts in service, leading to lighter components for the electric aircraft of the future, as well as maximising the efficient use of non-renewable metal resources. The grain structure of a metal forms the basis for its mechanical properties, making it an integral aspect in the design and production of metal components.

Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is a process of making three-dimensional solid objects from a digital model by adding material layer by layer. By varying the parameters of our heat source, we can change the thermal cycle experienced by the material and ‘programme’ different grain structures into different locations.

Gillean Brook

Scotland

Data Mining: How Machine Learning is Shaping Geology 

In this lecture I will explore how machine learning already has, and will continue to, change the field with case studies from the worlds of mining, hydrothermal, and research geology. I will attempt to demystify and explain the core concepts of machine learning and inspire fellow geologists in the audience to consider the applications of this exiting technology to their own projects. 

*Gillean did not compete in the 2022 UK final.