Rapid Product Development through Process Innovation

钢铁是世界上价值最高的材料，也是最可回收的材料之一，也是英国唯一生产和消费的金属。它是支撑经济的基础产业，例如，塔塔钢铁公司为日产Leaf轻型车身提供了大部分材料，在建筑方面，英国将以2.8%的增长率领先（相比之下，欧盟平均增长率为1.8%）。然而，英国钢铁行业目前面临着能源和原材料成本高，一些工艺效率低下，无法生产出先进的产品。一个强大的研究基地对于支持英国钢铁工业、钢铁和钢铁混合材料的用户以及培养推动创新所需的熟练劳动力至关重要。英国运输和黄色物品行业对材料创新有强烈的工业需求，以实现轻量化，卓越性能，并建立英国汽车车身，变速箱，电池外壳等供应链；以及英国建筑行业，到2030年，一半的建筑需求将来自住宅行业。新型钢基解决方案（如混合材料）具有巨大的潜力，这需要在加工过程中详细了解和控制钢的表面性能。为了减少合金创新的交货时间，并确保新合金可以加工，需要快速的合金设计和高通量加工。虽然确定合金所需性能的组合方法是可用的，但快速模拟实际合金制造及其集成到结构和设备中的所有瞬态过程步骤的能力并不存在。因此，一套新的设备提出，将识别和加速发明合成合金包括快速加工，表征和建模。该设备将包括一台高通量3D铸锭打印机、用于评估液体环境反应以优化凝固的降炉、用于评估固体环境反应以优化热加工的表面/大块变形装置、用于生产合适的显微结构以进行后续测试的高通量轧制、用于共同开发兼容涂层的PVD沉积以及用于涂层、焊接和成型评估的电化学-机械测试。我们将离线访问现有的表征（SEM和拉曼/AFM）设施，以便对选定系统的体积和表面结构进行详细评估。除此之外，还将有建模软件，用于弥合从实验室高通量实验到制造过程的差距。在与工业合作伙伴进行了广泛的接触和讨论之后，确定了所要求的设备，特别是塔塔钢铁公司，该公司做出了非常重要的承诺，以及塔塔钢铁公司支持的英国学者网络。该设施将由一名专门的测试设备工程师管理，配备一个预订系统，用于访问单个设备项目，并作为新合金系统的全过程评估工具。指导小组和工业咨询小组将定期举行会议，以确保优先考虑高质量的科学项目，鼓励工业使用并保持公平获取。WMG在提供设备支持和用户培训方面拥有丰富的经验，并通过高价值制造弹射器，塔塔钢铁英国研发中心和新的国家汽车创新中心的共同所在地与行业建立了紧密的联系。正在进行的EPSRC项目已经确定，这些项目将立即从该设施中受益，并与工业界和其他学术界合作开发新的研究领域。我们认为，该工厂的发展将是发展一个环境的关键因素，在这个环境中，改造英国钢铁工业所需的基本技术可以被发明和实施，利用能源和原材料，灵活的工艺，开发高价值的产品

Steel is the most used material in the world by value, one of the most recyclable materials and the only metal produced and consumed in volume in the UK. It is a foundation industry underpinning the economy, e.g. Tata Steel provides the most material for Nissan Leaf's lightweight body and in construction the UK is set to lead the growth rate at 2.8% (cf. EU average of 1.8%). However, the UK steel industry currently faces high energy and raw materials costs with some inefficient processes that are unable to produce advanced products. A strong research base is essential to support the UK steel industry, users of steel and steel-hybrid materials and to develop the skilled workforce needed to drive innovation. There is strong industrial need from the UK transportation and yellow goods industry for material innovation leading to lightweighting, superior performance and establishment of a UK supply chain for auto-bodies, transmissions, battery casings etc; and from the UK construction sector where half of construction demand will be in the residential sector by 2030. There is massive potential for novel steel-based solutions such as hybrid materials, which require detailed understanding and control of the steel surface properties during processing.To reduce lead-times for alloy innovation, and to ensure new alloys can be processed, rapid alloy design and high-throughput processing is required. Whilst combinatorial approaches for identifying an alloy for desired properties are available, the ability to rapidly simulate all the transient process steps critical for actual alloy manufacturing and its integration into structures and devices does not exist. Therefore a suite of new equipment is proposed that will identify and accelerate inventions for synthesizing alloys encompassing rapid processing, characterisation and modelling. The equipment will comprise a high throughput 3D ingot printer, drop furnace to assess liquid-environment reactions for solidification optimization, surface/bulk deformation rig to assess solid-environment reactions for hot process optimization, high throughput rolling to produce appropriate microstructures for subsequent testing, PVD deposition to enable co-development of compatible coatings and electro-thermal-mechanical testing for coating, welding and forming assessment. We will access existing characterisation (SEM and Raman/AFM) facilities off line to enable detailed assessment of bulk and surface structure of down selected systems. Alongside this will be modelling software for bridging the gaps from laboratory high-throughput experiments to manufacturing processes. The equipment requested was identified following extensive engagement and discussions with industrial partners, particularly Tata Steel who have made very significant commitments, and the Tata Steel network of supported UK academics.The facility will be managed by a dedicated test facilities engineer with a booking system for access for individual equipment items and as a through process assessment tool for new alloy systems. A Steering Group and Industrial Advisory Group will meet regularly to ensure that high quality scientific projects are prioritized, industrial use is encouraged and fair access is maintained. WMG has extensive experience of providing equipment support and user training and have strong links with industry through the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, co-location of the Tata Steel UK R&D centre and the new National Automotive Innovation Centre. Ongoing EPSRC projects have been identified that will immediately benefit from the facility with new research areas being developed in collaboration with industry and other academics.We feel that the development of this facility will be a critical element in developing an environment where the essential technologies needed for transforming the UK steel industry can be invented and implemented utilizing energy and raw material flexible processes and develop high value products