Up to 90% of the energy used over the lifetime of a ceramic component is consumed during manufacturing. The very high temperatures used are by far the biggest barrier to the wider use of ceramic materials, despite their suitability for use in a wide range of applications including solid-state batteries and other devices. In this project we will attempt to eliminate the need for heating to densify ceramic materials. We will start with pellets pressed from highly pure ceramic powders to which we will add very carefully controlled amounts of "phase-changing additive" substances which convert to metals at relatively low temperatures. This will provide us with a way to input energy by connecting the material to a power supply which will preferentially heat the surfaces of the particles where these substances are placed. We hypothesize that this will lead to intense heating in this region locally, enabling sintering to occur without needing to raise the temperature of the entire sample. This paradigm-shifting idea would radically reduce energy consumption in the ceramics industry and enable co-processing of ceramics with other materials which would usually degrade at the high temperatures of conventional ceramic processing methods. This work, if successful, will enable better manufacturing routes for important technological applications including solid-state batteries and ceramic-based metalized metamaterials for use in imaging and communication. In this project we propose several methods to investigate whether our hypothesis is correct and whether the effects we propose can be sufficiently controlled to lead to extensive densification. We will also investigate how universal the effects are by substituting materials with different ionic, electrical, and thermal conductivities. The project will also involve extensive work to characterise the samples produced using a wide range of imaging, X-ray spectroscopy, and bulk property measurement methods.

Ceramic materials are used in a wide range of applications including motion sensors, for energy storage in electric vehicles, dental replacement, hip and knee implants, cutting blades, and body and vehicle armour. They are exceptionally durable, even at high temperatures and in corrosive environments, and can be reused or recycled at the end of their life. However the high cost of manufacturing is a major barrier to the use of ceramic materials. Producing a dense strong ceramic material with minimal porosity requires heating to very high temperatures well over 1000 deg.C typically for many hours. Recently scientists have discovered that the temperature and duration of the ceramic densification process (sintering) can be significantly reduced by passing an electric field through the ceramic during the heating process. This "flash sintering" process, so-called because the material densifies extremely rapidly within a few seconds and often with the simultaneous emission of light, has potential to significantly reduce energy use in industrial-scale ceramic manufacturing and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from the process by up to 40%. The flash sintering technique may revolutionise the ceramic manufacturing industry by reducing the cost and environmental impact of producing ceramic materials. In this research project a detailed investigation of the flash sintering method will be undertaken to establish the viability of this technique for use with a wide range of ceramic materials and particularly to understand the underlying mechanisms which cause the flash sintering effect. A flexible flash sintering facility will be established which can be used to flash sinter a wide range of ceramic materials. Composite materials with varying electrical conductivity will be flash sintered under different conditions. The results will used to understand the effect of both the material properties and the variables involved in the process (e.g. electric field strength, current, voltage, and temperature) on the observed flash sintering behaviour. Materials will be characterised by measuring their density, imaging using scanning electron microscopy and mapping the chemical composition, and using X-ray diffraction to determine any changes to the phase composition of the materials caused by the flash sintering process. New insights will be gained by flash sintering for the first time a structure made of layers of ceramic composite materials graded by composition and examining how the flash sintering behaviour changes compared to samples containing each individual composition. The results of this project will be used by our industrial project partners Lucideon and Morgan Advanced Materials in the industrial development and application of flash sintering technology.

The UK has one of the oldest building stocks in Europe. In England, around a quarter of this stock is of solid brickwork construction. Every year, thousands of such buildings experience structural distress due to seasonal and excavation-induced ground movements. To understand and manage the impact of ground movements on these historic assets, an in-depth knowledge of their materials is necessary. Standard techniques for characterising the mechanical properties of brick masonry materials require extensive sampling and destructive testing. As a result, these techniques are rarely applied to existing buildings. In-situ testing and characterisation of materials is a promising alternative. However, in their current form, standard in-situ tests provide limited information on material properties. The MINT project aims to develop a minor-destructive in-situ testing method to identify the key macro-scale deformability and strength parameters of historic brick masonry materials. This method will combine unconventional flat jack testing with unambiguous Digital Image Correlation strain measurements and rapid Virtual Fields Method algorithms to overcome the limitations of standard material characterisation techniques. It will deliver a step change in our ability to collect detailed mechanical information on brick masonry materials and unlock the potential of numerical simulations to reliably assess structural response. It is envisioned that this new capability will also enable more informed decisions on retrofit and repair. In the longer term, the developments from MINT will contribute to improve productivity in the construction sector, and the welfare of the general public.

Nuclear research underpins the national energy strategy and plays a critical role in reducing the world's CO2 emissions. The currently world dominant nuclear reactor is the pressurised water-cooled reactors (PWR) which operates at high temperature and pressure using light water coolant, such as those at Sizewell B and Hinkley Point C in the UK. However, Generation IV reactors will have even higher operating temperatures and the Super-critical water-cooled reactor (SCWR) and molten salt reactor (MSR) are two of them. Both PWR and Generation IV reactors operate under extreme conditions such as high temperature, high stress and corrosive environments. Most importantly however, is the inevitable irradiation damage which the reactors must simultaneously endure. Therefore, to assess the reliability and lifetime of these reactors it is critical that the mechanical and corrosion performance of structural materials are conducted under relevant service conditions (e.g. under irradiation). Since the decommissioning of DIDO test reactors, there is no suitable neutron sources in the UK for materials irradiation and testing. The University of Birmingham has a high energy proton source (MC40 Cyclotron) and an accelerator-based intense neutron source under development. Building on the Birmingham irradiation facility, this proposal will develop a suite of world unique characterisation equipment for assessing the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of nuclear materials under simultaneous irradiation, offering a range of important capabilities that currently do not exist. The proposed facility will enable the tackling of a range of scientific challenges. It will enable the industry and universities to study the stress corrosion cracking under both PWR, SCWR and MSR conditions, to evaluate the new nuclear (both nuclear fission and fusion) materials currently being developed in many UK universities. The novel capabilities will benefit the wide UK and international nuclear research community. The proposed facility can be operated with or without simultaneous irradiation, thus will have a high duty cycle and strengthen the UK nuclear material research capacity.

Cold sintering is an emerging technology that permits densification of ceramics, ceramic/polymer and ceramic/metal composites at temperatures as low as 100 degrees C. A transient liquid is added to the ceramic powder which is then pressed and heated. Particle-sliding, dissolution and re-precipitation result in densification and the low temperatures enable co-sintering with polymers, metals and dissimilar ceramics. Metallised-polymer printed circuit boards (e.g. FR4 PCBs) are the basis of modern electronics. The metallisation is partially etched away and the required functional and passive components are soldered into position using 'pick and place' technology. Ceramic components such as varistors, thermistors and patch antennas are manufactured separately at high temperatures (>1100 degrees C) and are assembled on the PCB. Here, we propose a radically different approach in which functional ceramics for the fabrication of components are directly deposited/integrated onto the PCB through a cold sintering process at <150 degrees C, reducing the need for energy intensive manufacturing of separate ceramic components. The overall aim is to develop a disruptive technology that reduces both the cost and energy involved in the fabrication of printed circuits for modern consumer electronics.