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Advanced Forming Research Centre
Highlights, Summer 2014
HELLO
Welcome to our summer 2014 edition of Highlights. Hope everyone has
been enjoying the summer weather throughout the summer season.
VISIT BY DR HERMANN HAUSER
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On Thursday 3 July, the AFRC welcomed leading technology
entrepreneur, Dr Hermann Hauser to the centre. The Catapult Centres
were developed as a result of a report by Dr Hauser, commissioned by the
UK government in 2010. Four years on, Dr Hauser has now carried out an
independent review of the Catapult network in which he will review how
progress already made can be built upon and maximised to benefit the
economy.
During his visit, Dr Hauser was given a detailed tour of the AFRC’s hot
workshop where he witnessed
equipment demonstrations by
engineering staff at the Centre.
Exhibition stands in the Street area
displayed information on projects
and our capabilities that showed the
importance of the collaboration
between the AFRC, academia and
industry. We were delighted to be
joined by colleagues from industry,
Tier 1 and 2 member companies,
HVM Catapult and the University.
Our thanks go to everyone who
participated in this visit by Dr Hauser
and we await the publication of his
findings within the next couple of
months.
L-R: Simon Edmonds, Innovate UK;
Archie MacPherson, AFRC CEO; Dr Hermann Hauser; Bob Gilbert, HVM
Catapult
NEW TIER 2 MEMBER – TRANSVALOR
We are delighted to announce that the AFRC has a new Tier 2 Member.
Transvalor, a French company, offer and develop numerical simulation
software that addresses a range of forming processes across various
sectors including automotive, aerospace, energy, medical, oil and gas and
many others. In addition to its headquarters in France, Transvalor has a
comprehensive network of distributors, offices and subsidiaries for both
marketing and support activities worldwide.
Please visit Transvalor's website for more information.
EVENTS:
Manufacturing the Future – SECC, Glasgow
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Tuesday 23 and Wednesday 24 September
www.ukmanufacturing.org
CeeD Aerospace & Defence Clinic – AFRC
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Thursday 30 October 2014
http://ceed-scotland.com/
Innovate UK - Old Billingsgate, London
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Wednesday 5 – Thursday 6 November 2014
www.innovateuk.org/-/innovate-uk
Advanced Engineering Show – NEC, Birmingham
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Wednesday 12 – Thursday 13 November 2014
www.advancedengineeringuk.com/hub/
Superplastic Forming - AFRC
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Wednesday 26 November 2014
Heating Technologies - AFRC
Date TBC
All-Energy 2015 – SECC. Glasgow
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Wednesday 6 – Thursday 7 May 2015
We are exhibiting on Stand L21
www.all-energy.co.uk
If you would like to register for any AFRC events
or would like further information, please email:
[email protected]
INTERNATIONAL COLD FORMING CONGRESS
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2 – 4 SEPTEMBER 2015
The International Cold Forming Congress has been
held every 5 years since 1955, with venues
alternating between the UK and Germany. We
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are delighted to announce that the 13 ICFC will
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be held in Glasgow from 2 to 4 September
2015. The Conference will take place at the
University of Strathclyde’s state of the art
Technology and Innovation Centre in the heart of
Glasgow: http://www.strath.ac.uk/tic/
Email us at [email protected] if
you would like to be added to our contact list for
the Conference and this will ensure you are kept
informed.
Advanced Forming Research Centre
Highlights, Summer 2014
TECHNICAL NEWS
Hot Workshop - Overhead Crane Installation in Hot Workshop
A 6.3 tonne overhead gantry crane was installed this month to service
the 1200 tonne SPF press located in the hot workshop.
This crane will be used to facilitate lifting dies into and out of the press.
Lab 3
Our Z150 machine in Lab 3 has been fitted with longitudinal and
transverse extensometers. This enables the machine to conduct
tensile testing of sheet and plate materials and generate the
required data.
We can now do tensile tests up to 4mm using both the extensometers.
NEW STAFF MEMBERS
We would like to extend a warm welcome to our
new members of staff who joined the AFRC Team
over the summer:
• Saad Ahmed – Technician Apprentice
• Jayne Clark – Technician Apprentice
• Andrew Dunn – Manufacturing Engineer
• Stephen Fitzpatrick – Senior
Manufacturing Engineer
• Research Associates:
o Laurie Da Silva
o Ellen Jump
o Marcos Perez
o John Storr
o May Tuckwood
• Joshua Walker – Metrology Technician
• Wenjuan Wang – Programmes Manager
Saad and Jayne are the AFRC’s first Technical
Apprentices . They will attend college full time for
one year, in year 2 they will be based at the AFRC
and attend college one day per week to gain an
SHNC qualification and in years 3 and 4 they will
be based at AFRC full time.
We are also pleased to have the following
students on board, working on specific projects
over the summer:
Kenneth Beaton, Daniel Kahani, Thomas Lilley,
Daniel Rae, Kyle Watt, Shanglin Wu and Andrew
Wylie.
And finally, we have Johanna Bolitschek, an
IAESTE exchange student from Austria.
STAFF TRAINING
Twenty AFRC staff attended a 2 day Project
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Management course held at the AFRC on 14 and
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15 August. This course provided a
comprehensive introduction to the process of
managing projects and the tools required to assist
in planning and tracking progress. Staff who
participated in this course are now equipped to
both work and lead on commercial and research
projects, with the support of the AFRC
Programme Management Team.
Advanced Forming Research Centre
Highlights, Summer 2014
New Optical Microscope Installed in Lab 4
Leica DM12000 M optical inspection microscopes provide an innovative
yet cost-effective system solution for mastering present and future
manual inspection challenges with confidence. Besides extreme large
overview capabilities and high resolution optics, these systems are
incorporated in a highly ergonomic design with fully integrated LED
illumination allowing the sample to be illuminated from different angles.
New optical features offered by this model, such as the optical macro
mode or the oblique UV illumination (OUV, with i-line UV option) not only
improves resolving power but also speeds up throughput when inspecting
samples with 12”/300mm diameter.
The illumination is based on the latest LED technology and is fully
integrated into the microscope. With a single touch of a button, you can
change the magnification, illumination or contrast mode.
IMPACT ACCELERATION ACCOUNT (IAA)
The University of Strathclyde’s Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) is open
for proposal submissions until September 2015. Organisations working in
a new partnership with the AFRC can receive funding support of up to
£10,000 for a new company engagement.
AFRC has recently been successful in two proposal submissions with both
partner organisations involved receiving approximately £6,000 funding
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and we have just submitted our 3 application with an SME and expect to
hear the outcome around mid-September.
If you would like to discuss IAA and its suitability to your business, please
contact Sheena MacKenzie, Future Business Manager by emailing
[email protected]
AMRC COLLABORATION SESSION
In June, the AFRC Boardroom was full with
representatives from the Advanced
Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), a
partner to the AFRC within the High Value
Manufacturing Catapult (HMVC) whose primary
focus is machining technologies. The aim: to
explore collaborative opportunities between the
AFRC and AMRC and identify areas where AFRC
and AMRC could jointly bid for funding, for
example to the TSB. This collaboration is essential
to the future development of AFRC as we develop
machining capability for die and tool
manufacture, and for AMRC, who will expect to
develop flexible and configurable metal
deformation processes for their Factory 2050
programme.
The format of the session was to look at the
current state, the gaps and a future state of crosscentre capability for developing future
technologies for the UK manufacturing. The
session focused on AFRC interests in machining
capability and then reversed this for AMRC to
explore their interests in forging/forming
capabilities. Out of the session a number of areas
of key interest were identified
One direct output was the warm invitation to
AFRC employees to attend the AMRC’s road
mapping sessions and covered a range of AMRC
work streams. AFRC had attendance at sessions
on Aerofoils, Process Modelling, Gear
Manufacturing, Machining Dynamics and
Machinability. Attendance at the sessions will
mean the AFRC can bring knowledge of the AMRC
roadmapping process into the AFRC. Moreover,
knowledge of AMRC process group functions will
broaden AFRC knowledge of where further
collaborative opportunities may exist between
the two centres.
CURRENT VACANCIES
Team Leader/Knowledge Exchange Fellow
All vacancies are listed on the University of
Strathclyde's vacancies page. If you would like
more information, please email [email protected]
Advanced Forming Research Centre
Highlights, Summer 2014
EngD UPDATE
University guidelines state that Post Graduate students have a progress
review every 6 months. This Post Graduate Poster Critique day was held
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in the University’s Design Studio on 20 June. Each student prepared a
poster then presented for 3 minutes on their research to Professors,
supervisors and members of industry. This was followed by a 12 minute
question and discussion session between the student and the academic
and industrial reviewers.
PhD RESEARCH
AFRC employee, Dr Farrukh Makhdum had his
PhD research breakthroughs in the field of
manufacturing acknowledged by Loughborough
University where he completed his PhD. This
achievement has also been published in
Composite World Magazine.
Well done Farrukh!
COMMONWEALTH GAMES 2014
A speech given by Mr John Swinney MSP, Cabinet
Secretary for Finance, Employment and
Sustainable Growth to the 200 heads of state and
business leaders who attended the
Commonwealth Games, included footage filmed
at the AFRC. It can be viewed via:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXgWsiVA9
ew&list=UUivQCTQcHXH2_dDMHaRiJdg
HOW TO CONTACT US
AFRC – ROWING CHALLENGE
The Clydesdale Amateur Rowing Club Corporate Regatta 2014 was held in
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the River Clyde on Saturday 23 August. The AFRC entered two crews
with ten staff training very hard over the last six weeks. More
information on the day can be found on the rowing club’s website:
http://www.clydesdalearc.org.uk/corporate-regatta/
Staff at the AFRC provided
support to the teams and
a collection for MacMillan
Cancer Support raised a
fabulous £158. Further
donations are expected.
Advanced Forming Research Centre
University of Strathclyde
85 Inchinnan Drive
Inchinnan
PA4 9LJ
T: 0141 534 5200
E: [email protected]
W: www.strath.ac.uk/afrc
Well Done Crews!
We are also holding a
‘World’s Biggest
Coffee Morning’ on
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25 September
where we will raise
more funds to donate
to MacMillan.
“It’s always sunny here at the AFRC in Glasgow”.
Photograph by Alaster McDonach.
Photographs by Remi Zante.