Development of new hybrid and digital technologies to complement existing manufacturing processes such as CVD and lithography in late-stage functional

大型玻璃产品在世界各地生产，包括在英国，使用浮法玻璃技术，并运往全球许多行业，如汽车和建筑。在玻璃形成弯曲形状之前，利用纳米层沉积技术将其功能化，形成抗菌、抗反射或导电表面。目前，浮法玻璃和先进涂料的生产效率很高，可以连续生产。然而，对于小批量订单和测试来说，这是非常昂贵的。因此，研究重点是产品的后期功能定制，探索纳米级精密直写技术，如喷墨打印，需要嵌入传感器，导电轨道和互连，并使未来的智能玻璃材料成为可能。此外，在曲面上印刷的可靠性也面临着各种挑战，例如印刷时油墨的空气动力学行为。因此，应该在先进制造流体研究小组中使用独特的高帧率图像捕获能力对曲面屏幕上的打印进行调查，以更好地了解如何提高可重复性以用于工业。推动该博士项目的首要假设是，需要新的混合和数字技术来补充现有的制造工艺，如CVD和光刻，以塑造未来的材料，提供超精密分辨率，确保先进功能的存在，并提供有助于推动可持续性的新方法。这项工作还得到了NSG皮尔金顿研发孵化器的支持，NSG皮尔金顿在建筑、汽车和先进技术领域的玻璃创新和制造方面处于世界领先地位。预计将采用广泛的先进模拟、配方、流体流动、激光加工和分析技术。

Large glass products are manufactured around the world, including in the UK, using the floatglass technique and are shipped globally to be found in many sectors, such as automotive andarchitectural. These are functionalised with nanoscale layer deposition techniques to createantimicrobial, anti-reflection, or conductive surfaces before the glass is then formed intocurved shapes.Current manufacturing of float glass and advanced coatings is highly efficient withcontinuous production. However, it is extremely expensive for small batch orders and testing.Thus, the research focuses on late-stage functional customisation of products, exploringnanoscale precision direct-writing techniques, such as inkjet printing, needed for theembedding of sensors, conductive tracks and interconnects and enabling the smart glassmaterials of the future. Additionally, the reliability surrounding printing on curved surfacespresents various challenges, such as the aerodynamic behaviour as the ink when printing. Asa result, an investigation into the printing on curved screens should be performed using theunique high frame rate image capture capabilities in the Fluids in Advanced Manufacturingresearch group to develop a better understand how the reproducibility could be improved foruse in industry.The overarching hypothesis driving this PhD project is that new hybrid and digitaltechnologies are needed to complement existing manufacturing processes such as CVD andlithography, to shape materials of the future, to deliver ultra-precision resolution, to ensurethe advanced functions survive, and to deliver the new methods that will help drivesustainability. The work is also supported by the R&D Incubator at NSG Pilkington, worldleaders in innovating and manufacturing of glass across a range of architectural, automotiveand advanced technical sectors. A wide range of advanced simulation, formulation, fluidflow, laser processing and analysis techniques are anticipated to be employed.