This proposal is submitted in response to the EPSRC Manufacturing the Future Call for Investigator-led Research Projects open on 09 July 2013. This proposal addresses the urgent need of the metal materials and manufacture industry to search and adopt next-generation, step-change technologies for the manufacturing of primary ingots and/or shaped components with much improved mechanical properties and reliability, less energy consumption and negative environmental impact, e.g. Al and Mg alloys for mass transport applications, consumer products, Ni superalloy for industrial gas turbines (IGTs) for energy generation. At present, our economic competitors are conducting extensive research in this area. By adopting lighter alloys with better mechanical properties and reliability, mass transport systems can reduce energy consumption, adverse environmental impact, making wider application of alternative fuel schemes possible. While with improved materials performance, IGTs can be operated at a higher temperature duty cycle to increase the efficiency of energy generation. Casting is one of the most widely used and productive manufacturing technologies for these and other applications. Ultrasonic cavitation treatment offers sustainable, economical and pollution-free solutions to melt processing and casting of conventional and advanced metallic materials with significant improvement in mechanical properties and quality of the products manufactured. Although demonstrated on a laboratory scale, the ultrasound-assisted casting technique has not yet found widespread industrial application, mostly due to the lack of in-depth understanding of the mechanisms that lead to the macro/microstructure improvement, especially on the mechanisms of enhancing nucleation and crystal multiplication at different stages of solidification processes. The proposed programme will study the solidification fundamentals of metallic alloys under applied ultrasonic waves, and develop industrial exploitable methodologies to control and optimise the solidified microstructure under the influence of ultrasonic waves. The goal is to realise distinct materials performance improvements in cast products through microstructure refinement, increased chemical and microstructural homogeneity and the reduction of solidification defects in primary ingots and shaped castings. The proposed research is ambitious and challenging, aiming to study not only the fundamental mechanisms but also to establish practical methodologies of using ultrasound to promote grain nucleation and multiplication during different stages of solidification in metallic alloys. The novelty of the research is a combination of state-of-the-art in-situ ultra-high speed imaging studies plus advanced numerical modelling and scale-up experiments performed on real metallic alloys. The outcomes will be new knowledge and novel technological guidelines with their validity demonstrated using commercial alloys and castings produced in the pilot and industrial-scale facilities of the EPSRC Innovative Manufacturing Centre in Liquid Metal Engineering (LiME) and industry partner, Doncasters Group Ltd, providing industry with the knowledge, methodologies and tools to control microstructure of castings using ultrasound technology.

Metal processing is a vital component of manufacturing. Manufacturing is the third largest sector in the UK economy and in 2010 manufacturing in the United Kingdom accounted for 8.2% of the workforce and 12% (£150 billion in gross value added) of the country's national output. However, manufacturing's share of nominal GDP has fallen from over 22 per cent in 1990 and there is a clear trend in low value, high volume manufacturing moving to developing countries while in the UK the higher technology areas generate the better gross value added returns. The future growth of the sector is dependent on its ability to design and make the high value products. In large part, it is the high quality knowledge base and skilled technical workforce that make for a successful transformation from a resource and labour-intensive to a knowledge-intensive sector and ensure that high technology metal industries flourish in the UK. An important aspect of supporting high-value manufacturing in the UK is the PhD training of young researchers. However, it has been pointed out by many companies in the UK that the lack of well-trained materials engineers remains a concern for high value manufacturing industry. Indeed, in 2013 the UK Border Agency identified "metallurgist" as one of the 10 most wanted job titles in the Codes of Practice for Skilled workers. In this proposal, the Universities of Leicester, Birmingham and Nottingham seek funding to establish an EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Innovative Metal Processing (CIMP) with substantial support from industrial partners. Over the lifetime of the CIMP we will train over 87 PhD researchers with the combination of experimental, analytical, computational, technology management and transferable skills that are needed to build industrial innovation. The Centre will recruit students from different disciplines and provide them with coherent knowledge of a range of metal processing technologies and develop their expertise in solving challenging and industrially relevant problems so that they can be deployed by industry and become future leaders. The overall emphasis of the CDT's training programme will be on producing well-rounded leaders of the future, combining critical expertise in their discipline areas with a well-honed professional acumen, culminating in the ability to explore the wider context of their work and its potential impact, communicate their research to a range of different audiences, understand the commercial world and the applications of research, and work effectively with a range of partners both within and outside the academic community. The main research aims are: (1) to provide a deep understanding of the physical phenomena during metal processing, (2) to develop analytical and computational models for metal processing, (3) to design and optimise reliable manufacturing processes to accelerate product development and (4) to design new processes for novel materials. CIMP will build on the relationships the universities already have with our industrial partners and augment those relationships over the longer term by building a shared vision of researcher and continuing professional training and developing a deeper understanding of the challenges that drive innovation and impact in metal processing. Our marketing and recruiting activities will promote the profile of the metal processing industry in the UK and help attract a talented workforce. Our Summer School will also have an outreach activity "targeting" secondary school students to engage them in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and especially to inspire women and girls to pursue (STEM) as pathways to exciting and fulfilling careers.

The UK metal casting industry is a key player in the global market. It adds 2.6bn/year to the UK economy, employs directly around 30,000 people and produces 1.14 billion tons of metal castings, of which 37% is for direct export (Source: CMF, UK). It underpins the competitive position of every sector of UK manufacturing across automotive, aerospace, defence, energy and general engineering. However, its 500 companies are mainly SMEs, who are often not in a position to undertake the highest quality R&D necessary for them to remain competitive in global markets. The current EPSRC IMRC portfolio does not cover this important research area nor does it address this clear, compelling business need. We propose to establish IMRC-LiME, a 3-way centre of excellence for solidification research, to fill this distinctive and clear gap in the IMRC portfolio. IMRC-LiME will build on the strong metal casting centres already established at Brunel, Oxford and Birmingham Universities and their internationally leading capabilities and expertise to undertake both fundamental and applied solidification research in close collaborations with key industrial partners across the supply chain. It will support and provide opportunities for the UK metal casting industry and its customers to move up the value chain and to improve their business competitiveness. The main research theme of IMRC-LiME is liquid metal engineering, which is defined as the treatment of liquid metals by either chemical or physical means for the purpose of enhancing heterogeneous nucleation through manipulation of the chemical and physical nature of both endogenous (naturally occurring) and exogenous (externally added) nucleating particles prior to solidification processing. A prime aim of liquid metal engineering is to produce solidified metallic materials with fine and uniform microstructure, uniform composition, minimised casting defects and hence enhanced engineering performance. Our fundamental (platform) research theme will be centred on understanding the nucleation process and developing generic techniques for nucleation control; our user-led research theme will be focused on improving casting quality through liquid metal engineering prior to various casting processes. The initial focus will be mainly on light metals with expansion in the long term to a wide range of structural metals and alloys, to eventually include aluminium, magnesium, titanium, nickel, steel and copper. In the long-term IMRC-LiME will deliver: 1) A nucleation-centred solidification science, that represents a fundamental move away from the traditional growth-focused science of solidification. 2) A portfolio of innovative solidification processing technologies, that are capable of providing high performance metallic materials with little need for solid state deformation processing, representing a paradigm shift from the current solid state deformation based materials processing to a solidification centred materials engineering. 3) An optimised metallurgical industry, in which the demand for metallic materials can be met by an efficient circulation of existing metallic materials through innovative technologies for reuse, remanufacture, direct recycling and chemical conversion with limited additions of primary metal to sustain the circulation loop. This will lead to a substantial conservation of natural resources, a reduction of energy consumption and CO2 emissions while meeting the demand for metallic materials for economic growth and wealth creation.

Coatings are ubiquitous throughout day to day life and ensure the function, durability and aesthetics of millions of products and processes. The use of coatings is essential across multiple sectors including construction, automotive, aerospace, packaging and energy and as such the industry has a considerable value of £2.7 billion annually with over 300,000 people employed throughout manufacturers and supply chains. The cars that we drive are reliant on advanced coating technology for their durability and aesthetics. Planes can only survive the harsh conditions of flight through coatings. These coatings are multi-material systems with carefully controlled chemistries and the development and application of coatings at scale is challenging. Most coatings surfaces are currently passive and thus an opportunity exists to transform these products through the development of functional industrial coatings. For example, the next generation of buildings will use coating technology to embed energy generation, storage and release within the fabric of building. Photocatalytic coated surfaces can be used to clean effluent streams and anti-microbial coatings could revolutionise healthcare infrastructure. This means that this new generation of coatings will offer greater value-added benefits and product differentiation opportunities for manufacturers. The major challenges in translating these technologies into industry and hence products are the complex science involved in the development, application and durability of these new coatings systems. Hence, through this CDT we aim to train 50 EngD research engineers (REs) with the fundamental scientific expertise and research acumen to bridge this knowledge gap. Our REs will gather expertise on coatings manufacture regarding: - The substrate to be coated and the inherent challenges of adhesion - the fundamental chemical and physical understanding of a multitude of advanced functional coatings technologies ranging from photovoltaic materials to smart anti corrosion coatings - the chemical and physical challenges of the application and curing processes of coatings - the assessment of coating durability and lifetime with regards to environmental exposure e.g. corrosion and photo-degradation resistance - the implantation of a responsible and sustainable engineering philosophy throughout the manufacturing route to address materials scarcity issues and the fate of the materials at the end of their useful life. To address these challenges the CDT has been co-created with industry partners to ensure that the training and research is aligned to the needs of both manufacturers and the academic community thus providing a pathway for research translation but also a talent pipeline of people who are able to lead industry in the next generation of products and processes. These advanced coating technologies require a new scientific understanding with regards to their development, application and durability and hence the academic impact is also great enabling our REs to also lead within academia.

Forming components from light alloys (aluminium, titanium and magnesium) is extremely important to sustainable transport because they can save over 40% weight, compared to steel, and are far cheaper and more recyclable than composites. This has led to rapid market growth, where light alloys are set to dominate the automotive sector. Remaining globally competitive in light metals technologies is also critical to the UK's, aerospace and defence industries, which are major exporters. For example, Jaguar Land Rover already produces fully aluminium car bodies and titanium is extensively used in aerospace products by Airbus and Rolls Royce. 85% of the market in light alloys is in wrought products, formed by pressing, or forging, to make components. Traditional manufacturing creates a conflict between increasing a material's properties, (to increase performance), and manufacturability; i.e. the stronger a material is, the more difficult and costly it is to form into a part. This is because the development of new materials by suppliers occurs largely independently of manufacturers, and ever more alloy compositions are developed to achieve higher performance, which creates problems with scrap separation preventing closed loop recycling. Thus, often manufacturability restricts performance. For example, in car bodies only medium strength aluminium grades are currently used because it is no good having a very strong alloy that can't be made into the required shape. In cases when high strength levels are needed, such as in aerospace, specialised forming processes are used which add huge cost. To solve this conundrum, LightForm will develop the science and modelling capability needed for a new holistic approach, whereby performance AND manufacturability can both be increased, through developing a step change in our ability to intelligently and precisely engineer the properties of a material during the forming of advanced components. This will be achieved by understanding how the manufacturing process itself can be used to manipulate the material structure at the microscopic scale, so we can start with a soft, formable, material and simultaneously improve and tailor its properties while we shape it into the final product. For example, alloys are already designed to 'bake harden' after being formed when the paint on a car is cured in an oven. However, we want to push this idea much further, both in terms of performance and property prediction. For example, we already have evidence we can double the strength of aluminium alloys currently used in car bodies by new synergistic hybrid deformation and heat treatment processing methods. To do this, we need to better understand how materials act as dynamic systems and design them to feed back to different forming conditions. We also aim to exploit exciting developments in powerful new techniques that will allow us to see how materials behave in industrial processes in real time, using facilities like the Diamond x-ray synchrotron, and modern modelling methods. By capturing these effects in physical models, and integrating them into engineering codes, we will be able to embed microstructure engineering in new flexible forming technologies, that don't use fixed tooling, and enable accurate prediction of properties at the design stage - thus accelerating time to market and the customisation of products. Our approach also offers the possibility to tailor a wide range of properties with one alloy - allowing us to make products that can be more easily closed-loop recycled. We will also use embedded microstructure engineering to extend the formability of high-performance aerospace materials to increase precision and decrease energy requirements in forming, reducing the current high cost to industry.