Previous Events

Materials Ireland 2nd Annual Conference, Dec 14^th & 15^th 2009

The 2009 Materials Ireland Annual Conference was held at the Tyndall National Institute in UCC on December 14th and 15th. The event was designed to attract researchers from industrial and academic fields to present their work to a national audience. Invited speakers from the US, Norway, Sweden, Scotland gave presentations covering a wide range of material topics from industrial and academic viewpoints. The event was opened by the Materials Ireland Chairman Prof. Roger Whatmore (Tyndall), who introduced Prof. Kirk Ziegler (Uni. Florida) to deliver the Keynote Lecture on the recent advances made in the field of Carbon nanotubes.

There were six sessions covering:

Session 1: Metals

Metallurgy is perhaps the oldest form of Materials Science, and so it was fitting that the first session of the Materials Ireland Conference was on Metals, albeit a very modern take on the subject. The introductory paper in the session, chaired by UCD's Dr David J. Browne, was by invitation, and was presented by Dr Paul Schaffer of Hydro Aluminium, Norway, covering innovative research on solidification of aluminium alloys. Such light alloy castings are of enormous economic significance, and can lead to fuel savings when used in transport applications. The findings of research on (i) in-situ and real-time X-ray observation of dendritic growth during alloy solidification, and (ii) experimental studies of porosity formation during eutectic solidification, were discussed by Dr Schaffer. The successful synergy between research and industrial progress which was emphasised in the talk set an appropriate tone for the Metals session, and indeed for the whole Conference, particularly in light of the subsequent publication of the Irish Government's Report of the Innovation Taskforce. A paper describing European Space Agency microgravity projects on alloy solidification, involving sounding rocket experiments and coupled computer simulation investigations, was presented by Dr Shaun McFadden of DIT. Dr Jeremy Robinson of UL spoke of using large European facilities - including the neutron source in Grenoble, used for investigating residual stresses in alloys - and encouraged the Conference delegates to get involved in use of such facilities. Finally, Dermot Stratton of UCD described how bulk metallic glasses are being developed and used as high durability tooling for forming polymeric medical devices with features down to the nano-scale.

Session 2: Composites

Four papers were presented in the composites session, covering a wide range of topics in this ever expanding field of materials. Prof. Michael McCarthy described recent collaborative work conducted at the University of Limerick, University of Akron, USA and Brown University, USA concerning multi-wall carbon nano-tubes (MWCNTs). The results contribute to a fundamental framework for the creation of high-performance composites based on MWCNTs through interwall bonding. Dr. Joseph Mohan from UCD then presented experimental work on a vitally important aspect for the design of reliable adhesive bonds in composite material components: the role of peel plies. The beneficial impact of atmospheric plasma treatment on the carbon fibre composite joints was demonstrated. A very interesting talk by Dr Rauri McCool described the establishment of a multi-disciplinary research entity at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, QUB. He gave details of how the study of composite materials applications utilising modern digital manufacturing and processing techniques is being fast-tracked at the university. In the final talk of the session UL researcher Ted Vaughan described a newly developed numerical model that provides an insight into the interaction of microscopic damage mechanisms during the mechanical failure of composite material structures. The material studied is a high performance carbon fibre composite, which is widely used in the aerospace industry.

Session 3: Industrial Materials

The industrial materials section of the Conference included a mix of speakers from industry and academia. Pascale Vangeli from Outokumpu Stainless AB, Sweden gave an invited presentation on how the chemical composition of steels influences their material performance. This highly informative overview presentation included many practical applications of stainless steels ranging from bridges to water desalination plants and pharmaceutical vessels. Greg Byrne from UCD then gave a presentation on the deposition of hydroxyapetite coatings on orthopaedic medical devices. The research work presented involved a collaboration funded under the Innovation Partnership programme, with the Cork based company EnBio. The final two presentations of this session dealt with industry / academic interactions. Michael Morris of UCC examined this from an academic perspective, while Aidan Spooner provided an industry view point. Aidan was a former chief executive of Element 6, and has more recently been involved in fostering collaborative networks between companies. The two presentations recognized the importance of fostering a greater level of interaction between industry and the colleges, particularly with a focus on collaborative research which will assist in job creation and retention. Issues such as ownership of intellectual property, the long term versus short term research focus within academia / industry were also discussed. The importance of continued Government support for these interactions was also highlighted.

Session 4: Functional Oxides

Three papers were presented in this session of the meeting. The first of these was the invited presentation entitled, 'An overview of Commercial Semiconductor Photocatalysis' which was given by Prof. Andrew Mills, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. This was a very entertaining and informative talk. Andrew is recognised world-wide as a leader in the area of semiconductor photocatalysis and gave a very good overview of this topic. However the part of the topic which attracted most response from the audience was the insight into commercialization of products related to the field in question. Andrew described the highlights and pitfalls associated with his attempts to commercialize a range of products designed to rapidly test the efficacy of self-cleaning TiO2-based coatings, which struck a chord with many members of the audience, such that the resulting discussion was both informative and thought-provoking.

The next paper was entitled 'The Thermal Stability of Precursors for Atomic Layer Deposition of TiO2, ZrO2 and HfO2: An AB Initio Study of Alpha Hydrogen Abstraction in Biscyclopentadienyl Dimethyl Complexes', which was given by Ms Aleksandra Zydor of the Tyndall National Institute. This paper described the very elegant calculations which are being made by the team lead by Dr Simon Elliott at Tyndall, which are able to give a strong steer to experimentalists in terms of recommending precursor molecules for use in growth processes such as atomic layer deposition.

The third paper in this session was a contribution from the Chemistry Department at UCC entitled 'Synthesis of Mesoporous Metal Oxides for Lithium Ion Cathodes' which was given by Dr Tim Gabriel who works with Dr Justin Holmes and Dr Nikolay Petkov. Tim gave an excellent presentation which described the way in which the UCC team is making a range of vanadium oxide based materials that show great promise for lithium ion transport. Later in the day Tim was awarded a prize in recognition of the quality of his presentation. The final talk in the session was given by Mr Doldet Tantraviwat and was entitled 'Electrical Characterisation of ALD Al2O3 and HfO2 Films on Germanium'. Doldet works at the Northern Ireland Semiconductor Research Centre, Queen's University Belfast, with Prof Harry Gamble and Dr David McNeill. This was a really elegant talk that highlighted the improvements that can be made in the electrical response of simple capacitative devices built on germanium, given the appropriate choice of oxide/high-k interlayer.

So the session covered a wide range of oxide materials, properties and analytical techniques. In my opinion, together with a number of excellent posts on a further range of functional oxides, that the theme selected was clearly very appropriate in terms of current 'hot' research interests and as such the session along with the rest of the meeting was a great success.

Session 5: Nanomaterials

Dr. Brendan Duffy (DIT) gave a talk on the advances made at CREST (DIT) in the field of protective sol-gel coatings for aluminium substrates. The work highlighted the valuable input of industrial project partners in directing the research, particularly in the automotive and aerospace sectors. Brendan also chaired the session as Prof. Werner Blau (TCD) was unable to attend due to unforeseen circumstances. The next speaker, Sung-Ho Choi, travelled from South Korea to present details of his groups work in the field of cellular imaging using conjugated carbon nanotubes. The impressive presentation highlighted the continually expanding opportunities for these materials, especially in the area of therapeutic medicine. Another international speaker, Dr. Aleksey Drozdov from Demark, presented a useful talk on the evaluation of polymer/clay nanocomposites. His work provided a theoretical framework for the study of polymers in the melt state, in crosslinked networks, in filled systems and on surfaces. Finally in his first conference presentation, Tyndall student Justin Varghese gave a concise presentation of his work with antimony sulphide nanorod arrays. His results, in particular FESEM images, helped give a visual understanding of this fascinating field of crystal growth.

MSSI Technology Roadshow

The MSSI Technology Roadshow was designed to illustrat some of the research activity in MSSI, highlighting the facilities, research and expertise available in the Institute, as well as presenting some current collaborative projects with industry. Dr. Alan Smith and Fiona Lyons will provide new perspectives on the nanotechnology roadmap and the regulatory effects of nanomaterials in industry respectively.