EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Liquid Metal Engineering

英国金属铸造行业是全球市场的关键参与者。它每年为英国经济增加26亿英镑，直接雇用约3万人，生产11.4亿吨金属铸件，其中37%用于直接出口（来源：CMF， UK）。它支撑着英国制造业各个领域的竞争地位，包括汽车、航空航天、国防、能源和通用工程。然而，中国的500家企业主要是中小企业，它们往往无法承担在全球市场上保持竞争力所必需的最高质量的研发。目前EPSRC IMRC的投资组合既没有涵盖这一重要的研究领域，也没有解决这一明确的、引人注目的商业需求。我们建议建立IMRC- lime，一个卓越的凝固研究的三方中心，以填补IMRC投资组合中这一独特而明确的空白。IMRC-LiME将以布鲁内尔大学、牛津大学和伯明翰大学已经建立的强大的金属铸造中心及其国际领先的能力和专业知识为基础，与供应链上的主要工业伙伴密切合作，开展基础和应用凝固研究。它将支持并为英国金属铸造行业及其客户提供机会，以提升价值链并提高其业务竞争力。IMRC-LiME的主要研究主题是液态金属工程，它被定义为在凝固处理之前，通过控制内源性（自然发生的）和外源性（外部添加的）成核颗粒的化学和物理性质，以增强液态金属的非均相成核，通过化学或物理手段进行处理。液态金属工程的一个主要目标是生产具有细小而均匀的微观结构、均匀的成分、最大限度地减少铸造缺陷从而提高工程性能的凝固金属材料。我们的基础（平台）研究主题将集中在理解成核过程和开发成核控制的通用技术；我们以用户为主导的研究主题将集中在通过各种铸造工艺之前的液态金属工程来提高铸件质量。最初的重点将主要是轻金属，长期将扩大到各种结构金属和合金，最终包括铝、镁、钛、镍、钢和铜。从长远来看，IMRC-LiME将提供：1)以核为中心的凝固科学，这代表了从传统的以增长为中心的凝固科学的根本转变。2)创新的凝固加工技术组合，能够提供高性能的金属材料，几乎不需要进行固态变形加工，代表了从当前以固态变形为基础的材料加工向以凝固为中心的材料工程的范式转变。3)优化的冶金工业，通过创新技术对现有金属材料进行再利用、再制造、直接回收和化学转化，以有限的原金属添加来维持循环循环，从而满足对金属材料的需求。这将导致大量保护自然资源，减少能源消耗和二氧化碳排放，同时满足经济增长和创造财富对金属材料的需求。

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.