MATERIALS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DIVISIION ANNUAL REPORT, DECEMBER 2010

  1. Board membership

The technical committees comprising the Division in 2010 were as follows:

HTMC: High Temperature Materials Committee. (Chair: Gordon McColvin)

MCC: Materials Chemistry Committee. (Chair: Andrew Watson)

NNC: Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology Committee. (Chair: Martin Kemp)

PEC: Particulate Engineering Committee. (Chair: John Dunkley)

RC: Rolling Committee. (Chair: Mick Steeper)

SMASC: Smart Materials and Systems Committee. (Chair: Markys Caine)

SPMC: Structure and Properties of Materials Committee. (Chair: Brad Wynne)

SPC: Superplasticity Committee. (Chair: Rajab Said)

FMC: Functional Materials Committee. (Chair: Mike Reece)

DSSMC: Defence, Safety and Security Materials Committee. (Chair: Eoin O’Keefe)

The current MSTD Board comprises the Chairs of the technical committees, the Chairs of the Surface Engineering and Light Metals Divisions, the Chair of the Incorporated Engineers and Technicians Committee (IETC), the vice-chair of the Sustainable Development Group and a representative from EPSRC. The Chair of the MSTD Board also attends the Surface Engineering and Biomedical Applications Division Boards.

Changes in membership this year have been:

Dr Eoin O’Keefe has joined as chair of the newly formed DSSMC. Dr Martin Kemp has joined as chair of the NNC in succession to Dr Paul Christian. Dr Rajab Said has succeeded Dr Richard Curtis as chair of the SPC.

Thanks are expressed to all those who have served on the Board during this year and in particular to those standing down for their work over the years.

  1. Board meetings

Board meetings were held in January and July, both being well attended, and there have been approximately 26 meetings of the constituent committees. Typical attendance at committee meetings is 50% of nominal membership.

3. Opportunities for growth of Division Communities or constraints

The committees of the MSTD cover a wide range of technology communities covering the full academic / industrial spectrum. Each committee has its own terms of reference. However, the common emphasis is education, whether it by academia to industry or vice-versa. The staple activity is the organisation of technical conferences and symposia, ranging from large international events to small one-day or even half-day meetings tailored to specific technical communities. The smaller targeted events are being used more, as a consequence of the resource requirement and increasing financial risk associated with the larger conferences. These meetings are increasingly being organised on a ‘self-help’ basis in order to decrease costs.

The FMC has built further on the previous year’s good start. The strategy is to hold hands-on workshops in materials processing for early stage researchers, engaging with centres of expertise in the relevant areas, such as Doctoral Training Centres. The target is four events per year related to functional/electronic materials. There are opportunities for other committees of the IoM3 to do something similar in their own research areas.

The MCC is aiming to stimulate interest in Phase Diagrams and Thermodynamics in the UK by preparation of a strategy document that is nearing completion. The document will target academia, industry and funding agencies.

In view of the shrinkage of the classical powder metallurgy sintered parts business in the UK over the years, opportunities for growth may be perceived to remain limited. However, such areas as powder-based process for layer/additive manufacturing, repair welding and surfacing, and metal injection moulding (MIM) are thought to offer growth prospects for the PEC and Powder Metallurgy Journal.

NNC activity is constrained by a glut of nano-materials conferences. In particular the planned international conference had to be postponed due to a large event organised by UKTI.

There has been some debate as to whether the scope of the Rolling Committee could be expanded to include other metal forming processes such as forging. Currently, there is no clear community within the Institute that caters for metal forming processes in its widest sense. No firm decision has been made on this as yet but this remains an opportunity to widen the activities of the group and attract more members.

Immediately after the DSSMC was formed, the Government announced a Strategic Defence and Security Review. This set significant obstacles in the terrain which has made developing the DSSMC strategy difficult. The full repercussions of the review have not yet been felt by the MoD and its supply chain. In an expectation that there will be a reduction in expenditure in favour of maintaining front-line services involved in current theatres of operations, there have been significant workforce reductions in the commercial R&D organisations that support the MoD and in some instances ‘capability sustainment’ funding is being discussed.

The prevailing economic situation continues to put pressure on attendance at events. This is having a direct impact on the attendance at conferences and, to a lesser extent, committee meetings.

The web-site provides each of the committees with the opportunity of a micro-site of the same functionality as the divisional micro-sites. It is hoped that, in due course, the potential of the web-sites will be fully exploited by the MSTD committees. However, to date, time pressures and competing priorities have limited the content development of the sites.

The ongoing strategy of the MSTD is to work with the funded networks, particularly the KTNs, either jointly organising or co-sponsoring meetings, even though this means that the number of specifically Institute events may continue to drop.

4Technical programme

The programme during 2010 was smaller than in recent years, partly due to the economic situation causing prioritisation issues for committee members. However, a strong programme is planned for 2011.

A number of committees are planning to host sessions in the proposed 2012 Congress on Materials for Sport and Sustainability. These include the RC, the SMASC (Smart Materials in Sport) and the MCC (the APDIC Round Robin Seminar).

5Technology Foresight Developments.

The MCC, with input from the SPMC, is completing a strategy document concerning the low current state of Materials Chemistry research and teaching in the UK, specifically from the point of view of thermodynamics. This will be targeted at stake holders in the sector with a view to identifying a programme of action to address the situation.

6Professional membership developments

Most, but not all, committee members are Institute members at various levels except where they have been invited as representatives of other organisations. Non-members are being encouraged to join the Institute as part of the current membership drive. Members are also being encouraged to apply for Fellowship where appropriate and a number have done so.

Many committee members are engaged individually with their local societies but more interaction between committees and local societies would be beneficial. MSTD Committees continue to offer speakers to local societies.

SMASC intends to introduce a ‘junior’ membership, aimed at giving one or two students a role on the committee for a limited period. It is intended that some of the regular committee tasks (e.g. running the website) could be delegated to the junior member and the member would gain valuable experience of how a technical committee is organised.

7National and international linkages with other Societies /Institutes

The committees of the Division continue to benefit from strong national and international links, examples include:

  • SPC has a very strong association with the French Superplasticity Group with whom it organises the Euro SPF series of meetings.
  • The Materials Chemistry Committee provides the UK representative on the Alloy Phase Diagram International Commission (APDIC)..
  • Members of the MCC were invited lecturers at the APDIC World Round Robin Seminar on phase diagrams and thermodynamics that was held in Montpellier, March 2010
  • HTMC co-operates with TMS through website links and joint meetings.
  • The chair of the Mats UK Energy Materials Working Group is a member of the HTMC; other members also participate.
  • The Rolling Committee maintains strong links with the Rolling Guild with several members of the committee being active members of that group.
  • SMASC contributes several members to the board of the Smart Materials sector of the Materials KTN.
  • SPC is recognised as a BSI committee for superplastic forming.
  • The MSTDB Chair sits on the IMechE Structural Technology and Materials Group.
  • NNC has representatives from RSC, IOP, and EPSRC on the committee and some members are also members of IEEE and RMicroS. The major international link is with the Tyndale Institute in Ireland.
  • SMASC has links through its chair with the Piezo Institute and the IOP Dielectrics Committee.
  • The Chair of the Advisory Board for the ICSAM Conferences is a member of the SPC.
  • Them FMC has established links with the UKCME, a DTC (Polymer Electronics ICL-QMUL) and CASC.
  • Dr Wroe, Executive Director, European PM Association (EPMA), has attended PEC meetings, and several members attended the PM World Congress organized by the EPMA in Florence in October.
8Government interfaces
  • The Divisional board and most of the technical committees have representatives from EPSRC.
  • The Chair of the NNC is Engineering Applications Theme Manager for the NanoKTN.
  • A member of the Division is a manager at the Technology Strategy Board.
  • The chair of the Advanced Power Generation Task Force Materials Sub Group and the Mats UK Energy Materials Working Group is a member of the HTMC.
  • The Thermodynamics and Phase Equilibria work of the Materials Chemistry Committee is regarded by NPL as an integral part of the National Measurement System.
  • The Particulate Engineering Committee collaborates with the powder metallurgy sector of the Materials KTN.
  • The work of the DSSMC is intimately involved with the Government’s work. This alignment is reflected in the make up of the committee membership; 8/18 members represent organisations that are part of the Home Office, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Ministry of Defence. The DSSMC collaborates with the Defence and Aerospace KTN.

Industry / Academia programmes, such as LINK and the Materials KTN, provide potential sources of income for collaborative projects. A number of committees and individual members are involved in such projects and it is felt that there is further scope for this, particularly through the Materials KTN.

9Institute Publications
  1. Web-site

The MCC has created a micro-site annex as a resource for teaching and research materials related to phase diagrams and thermodynamics; there is open access via the committee micro-site

  1. Materials World
  • Sparking Ceramics, May 2010 (Mike Reece, FMC)
  • MASTering defence, March 2010, (Eoin O’Keefe, DSSMC)
  • Functional materials for Photon Power, Dec 2010, (Steve Dunn, FMC)
  • Bottoms Up, Dec 2010, (Rob Dorey, FMC)
  1. Other publications

The Chair of the PEC is editor of Powder Metallurgy. It is intended to channel efforts in promoting the Powder Metallurgy journal through active support from within the PEC, as editorial board members and reviewers. This is considered highly important for further increasing the impact of the journal as an ideal medium for dissemination of research and technological developments alongside market reviews, which would be perceived as a valuable source of information for the particulate engineering community in general.

There was a special section in the May issue of Ironmaking and Steelmaking Journal which featured papers from the 5th European Rolling Congress

10Awards/Prizes

The Gold Medal for work on the industrial application of materials was awarded to Derek Allen of the High Temperature Materials Committee.

The Hume-Rothery Prize, in recognition of distinguished achievements concerned with phase relationship in metallic materials or non-metallic materials of metallurgical interest, was awarded to Professor Rainer Schmid-Fetzer.

The Kroll Medal and Prize, in recognition of a significant contribution that has enhanced the scientific understanding of materials chemistry as applied to the industrial production of materials, normally inorganic, was awarded to Professor Karen Scrivener.

The Swinburne Medal for an outstanding contribution to the science, engineering or technology of plastics was awarded to Dr Ton Peijs of the Functional Materials committee.

The Dowding Medal and Prize in recognition of a major contribution to the invention, development or design of metallurgical plant, particularly rolling and finishing, leading to improved economy, yield or quality in metal production was awarded to Dr John Wadsworth

The Ivor Jenkins Medal in recognition of significant contribution which has enhanced the scientific, industrial or technological understanding of materials processing or component production using particulate materials, was awarded to Professor Aldo Boccaccini

The Verulam Medal in recognition of distinguished contributions to ceramics was awarded to Dr Mike Reece, chair of the Functional Materials Committee.

11 Other Matters

The MSTDB Chair stands down during 2010. Anyone interested in taking on this role should contact the Chair.

David Gooch, MSTDB Chair