Smart Tooling for Ceramic Profile Extrusion: New Approaches to Industrially focused Interdisciplinary Practice Based Research

几千年来，陶瓷一直被用于建筑结构、实用物品和文物。陶瓷介质在耐用性、可持续性、寿命和美学方面具有独特的品质，已成为我们创意和商业产出不可或缺的一部分。然而，许多与陶瓷生产有关的部门面临着极其困难的条件，在过去几十年中出现了非常大的下降。这种下降可能是许多因素的综合作用，包括海外竞争和文化变化，但缺乏创新也可能是原因之一。为了使英国保持或再生其长期的遗产与这种媒体，新的方法和创新是必要的。 到目前为止，陶瓷领域数字制造的创新主要集中在3D打印上，粉末和塑性粘土打印方法都已建立。虽然这些方法已经扩展了具有新几何可能性的制造可能性，但3D打印仍然是一种非常缓慢且尺寸有限的生产方法，这限制了该工艺在陶瓷介质方面的商业潜力。相比之下，型材陶瓷型材挤出是一种非常快速和有效的生产方法。这种方法可以追溯到17世纪，并且仍然是砖和粘土管生产中高度使用的制造工艺。然而，陶瓷型材挤出通常限于直线段的生产，并且在陶瓷生产的许多其他方面仍然明显利用不足。该研究项目将寻求探索如何使用数字制造技术来建立陶瓷型材挤出技术的新方法，该技术扩展了传统能力，提供了新的创意和商业机会。该研究将研究如何通过机器人技术的应用生成定制，弯曲和定制的形状，以及如何通过使用参数化脚本和数字制造方法开发从计算机辅助设计到创建挤出模具的快速工作流程，这些方法统称为：智能工具。 该研究将包括通过与行业专家的互动，访问公司和领先的国际研究中心，对现有做法进行深入调查。研究的核心将集中在跨学科的实践为基础的调查结构作为一系列的实验可行性研究。通过研究开发的技术和方法旨在影响包括建筑，设计和工艺在内的许多部门。应用和开发机会将通过与关键部门组织、研究伙伴和商业公司的合作对话来确定。 该奖学金将在该中心举办的精细印刷研究，并从该中心的实践为基础的研究和技术驱动的创新的广泛经验的支持。此外，该项目还吸引了一批世界领先的公司和组织作为研究的合作伙伴; Wienerberger，Sibelco，Arup和窗户和覆层技术中心。 该研究项目的愿景是提供材料知识，新技术和跨学科方法如何遵守的范例，以提供传统材料的可持续创新。

Ceramics have been used for millennia for architectural construction, utilitarian items and cultural artefacts. The ceramic medium has unique qualities in terms of durability, sustainability, longevity and aesthetics and has been an integral part of our creative and commercial output. However, many of the sectors involved with ceramic production have faced extremely difficult conditions with a very significant decline over the last many decades. Such a decline is likely to be a combination of many factors, including overseas competition and cultural changes, but a lack of innovation is also likely to have contributed. In order for the UK to maintain or regrow its long heritage with this medium, new approaches and innovation are required. Innovation within digital fabrication in the field of ceramics has, to date, been predominantly focused on 3D printing, with both powder and plastic clay printing methods being established. While these methods have extended manufacturing possibilities with new geometric possibilities, 3D printing remains a very slow and size limited production method, which limits the process' commercial potential with the ceramic medium. In contrast, profile ceramic profile extrusion is an extremely quick and efficient production method. This method dates back to the 17th century and remains a highly utilised manufacturing process in the production of bricks and clay pipes. However, ceramic profile extrusion is generally limited to the productions of straight linear sections and remain significantly under-utilised in many other aspects of ceramic production. This research project will seek to explore how digital fabrication technologies can be used to establish new approaches with the ceramic profile extrusion technique that extends conventional capabilities to provide new creative and commercial opportunities. The research will investigate how customised, curved and bespoke shapes can be generated through the application of robotics, and how rapid workflows from computer aided designs to creation of extrusion dies be developed through the used of parametric scripting and digital fabrication approaches which collectively are termed: Smart Tooling. The research will include an in-depth survey of existing practices through interaction with industry specialists, visits to companies and leading international research centres. The core of the research will focus on interdisciplinary practice based investigations structured as a series of experimental feasibility studies. Technologies and approaches developed through the research are aimed to impact on a number of sectors including architecture, design and craft. Applications and exploitation opportunities will be identified through collaborative dialogue with key sector organisations, research partners and commercial companies. The fellowship will be hosted at the Centre for Fine Print Research and draw support from the centre's extensive experience in practice based research and technology driven innovation. Furthermore, the project draws together a group of world leading companies and organisation as collaborating partners in the research; Wienerberger, Sibelco, Arup and Centre for Window and Cladding Technology. The vision for this research project is to provide an exemplar of how material knowledge, new technologies and interdisciplinary approaches can be complied to deliver sustainable innovation with a traditional material.