People
We may have fantastic facilities here at Exeter Advanced Technologies within the University of Exeter, but what are great buildings without great people to fill them?
Professor Ken Evans - Director
Ken is Head of the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, and Director of Exeter Advanced Technologies.
His research interests are in materials, particularly the theoretical and experimental investigation of novel materials; their processing, fabrication, structure and properties; and finally in their engineering and industrial applications. The majority of this work has been on polymers and polymer composites and, most recently, biomaterials.
In particular he has been involved with the study and development of auxetic materials. These new materials exhibit a negative Poisson's ratio (i.e. they expand laterally when stretched). This unusual property has a fundamental influence on the mechanical properties of these materials, with many possible applications.
Professor Evans has had numerous technical papers published in scientific journals, including the Journal of Materials Science, the Journal of Strain Analysis, the Journal of Cellular Plastics and the Journal of Experimental Biology.
Dr Oana Ghita - Vice Director
Oana was appointed as Manager of The Centre in 2006. Prior to this, she held the position of research fellow at Cranfield University Royal Military College of Science, in the Sensors and Composites Research Group. Whilst at Cranfield University, she was involved in different research areas: non-destructive monitoring of thermosets cure using spectroscopy techniques linked to autoclave, microwave, DSC, and the development of a simultaneous DSC-thermo mechanical analyses technique (DSC-TMA). At Exeter, she has developed strong links with industry through several projects with funding in excess of £2m from different funding bodies (Technology Strategy Board -TSB, Great Western Research-GWR) and companies such as Astra-Zeneca, Kemdent Associated Dental Materials, Mettler-Toledo, Bruker Optics, Becton-Dickinson, Colormatrix, Menzolit, Mitras Automotive and Gurit. These collaborations secured funding for several researchers studying within Exeter University under her supervision. Her current interests are in novel dental materials, biomaterials, polymorphism in drugs, polymer processing, recycling of thermoset composites and novel, combined techniques for in-process materials characterisation.
Dr Mark Beard - Manager
Mark worked for a number of years in manufacturing engineering before graduating from Exeter University with a first MEng degree in mechanical engineering. Mark stayed on at Exeter to complete his PhD specialising in material analysis.
Mark joined X-AT in 2006 where he has worked on a number of projects including consultancy and DTI projects such as developing new methods to study pharmaceutical polymorphic compounds. His research interests include all types of materials analysis using techniques such as spectroscopy, rheology, thermal and mechanical analysis. He also has expertise in finite element and finite volume materials modelling using various polymer models and constitutive equations.
Linda Urlu
Linda has been the X-AT Finance Manager since August 2007. She gained a HND in Business and Finance from Salford College of Technology in 1989. For 10 years she was employed at ICI firstly with Polyurethanes and then with Autocolor in the Finance Dept. Whilst with ICI she gained her Accounting qualification (AAT) at Oldham College. In 1999 she was headhunted by Amazon.co.uk to head their European Payments Section. In 2002 she left the UK to successfully run her own business in Turkey until she returned in 2006.
Dr Mike Sloan
Mike gained an HND in Engineering from the Camborne School of Mines and subsequently transferred to the MEng degree course in Exeter. Upon graduating he joined X-AT and has worked on a wide range of materials-focused projects ranging from consultancy to large DTI-funded projects. Mike was the technical researcher on a DTI project aiming to replace aramid fibres in brake pads with natural eco-friendly fibres such as hemp. This research has grown into a second TSB project and currently the research is focusing on extending environmentally materials to include resins as well as fibres.
Mike is currently working on the Blast Curtains project – developing auxetic fabrics for blast mitigation – and is the academic supervisor for an Industrial KTP collaboration with AAVF in North Devon – introducing high performance polymers to existing products.
He is interested in a wide range of analytical techniques and is experienced in mechanical testing, rheology, DMTA, TGA, AFM and DSC. His current research interests include tribology and friction materials.
Dr Vineet Jha
Vineet Jha joined X-AT as External Business Technical Officer in February of 2008. He has obtained a PhD in Material Science from Queen Mary, University of London. During his study at Queen Mary, Vineet was extensively involved in the research of ‘Reinforcement of elastomers’ funded by Avon Rubber Inc. (Artis UK). His research included fatigue life prediction and stiffness calculation of filled polymeric materials using finite element analysis. He has also been actively involved in the research of smart conductive polymers with potential use in strain measuring devices. Currently, Vineet is working on the ‘Cap-Scrap’ project focused on reducing and reusing the scrap produced in the plastic industry.
Julian Wright
Julian gained a B.Sc in Electroacoustics and an M.Sc in Applied Acoustics at the University of Salford and conducted commercial audio and acoustics research for 17 years at Celestion and KEF (now GP Acoustics), culminating in 4 years as Head of Research. He has worked extensively in acoustic Finite Element Analysis and acoustic metrology, including laser vibrometry, Digital Signal Processing and data acquisition. He has carried out research on and project-managed EPSRC, EU, and DTi projects.
Julian is a Fellow of the Institute of Acoustics and a Member of the Performing Right Society. His current research interests include auxetic materials and dynamic material properties.
Will Newby
Will graduated from the University of Exeter with an MEng in Mechanical Engineering in 2008. During his time as a student he was involved with 2 major research projects. In materials science, he investigated the effect of repeated process cycling on the mechanical properties of parts produced by Selective Laser Sintering. His findings were used as the basis for a paper presented to the 3rd International Conference on Virtual and Rapid Prototyping in 2007.
In mechanical design, Will was a founding member of the "ChocALM" team which created, from scratch, an Additive Layer Manufacture machine to produce bespoke objects in chocolate. This project was supported by Cadbury, HEPCOmotion, and Farnell. Will's interests include ALM, friction materials and mechanical design. He is currently working on the ECOBRAKE project which aims to replace aramid fibres in brake pads with natural eco-friendly fibres such as hemp. He has a very hands-on approach, is practically minded and likes to get his hands dirty!
Ed James
Ed graduated from the University of Exeter in 2008 with masters in mechanical engineering. Shortly after graduating he joined X-at as a research assistant to work on the industrially led DAMASCUS project. While working on the project he has gained specialist knowledge in CNC code and CAD/CAM techniques for additive manufacture (AM).
Ed is an associate member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. His current research interests are AM for automotive and aerospace applications, mechanical properties of AM parts and laser processing.
Mike Burns
Mike has spent most of his working career in the textile industry covering the research and development of technical textiles, with emphasis on yarns and fibres. He gained a B.Sc. in Textile Studies from Bolton Institute of Technology. His main interests are in novel fibre production for technical end-use textiles. He is currently engaged in research activity concerning the use of auxetic yarns for smart materials in security and medical applications.
Dave Baker
Dave has been working at the University for many years designing and building equipment for all aspects of research and development, the last 10 of which as a founder member of the X-AT team. His background is in mechanical engineering with specialisation in CNC and CAD/CAM. His current research interests are Additive-Layer Manufacturing and specialist Injection Moulding.
Ian Moon
Ian joined X-AT in May 1999 as a Technician. He has supported a wide range of research and undergraduate projects. His current focus is on providing Technical Services to the Met Office for upper-atmosphere airborne research. He completed a BSc in Mechanical Engineering at University of Plymouth in 2005. Current research interests include auxetic textiles.
Chi-Chuan Kao
Chuan joined X-AT In April 2010. He completed his PhD degree in Polymer Science and Technology at Materials Science Centre, University of Manchester. His research interests involve characterisations and applications of nanocomposite materials and fibre composites. His expertise is the mechanical analysis of the nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes, by utilising non-destructive methods such as Raman Spectroscopy. He is also interested in the application of the nanomaterials for strain sensor in composites system. He is also specialised in the interfacial analysis of composite materials, from nano- to micro- scales, using various testing measurements, such as, fragmentation test with theoretical models. He is currently working on an EU project (EURECOMP - Recycling Thermoset Composites of the Sustainable Surface Transport) focusing on the mechanical analysis of the recycled glass fibres and their composites for re-uses in the automotive industry.