Materials are fundamental to nearly all areas of technology, from electronic devices through to aircraft, the clothes you wear and the cars you drive.

The limits of materials usage are being constantly pushed forwards with challenges coming from the requirement to work at ever higher temperatures, for example, in aeroengines, to functioning at ever smaller scales in electronics, to light weighting for energy saving.

Those working in materials science are thus being continuously challenged to improve manufacturing methods and to develop new materials to meet such challenges.

We have capabilities in the following areas:

• Coating and adhesives
• Materials processing
• Materials modelling
• Materials testing (high and low temperature, mechanical, chemical, microstructural and residual stress)
• Primary materials (biomaterials, building materials, ceramics, composites, electronic materials, metals, plastics, porous materials)

The University works with a wide range of companies, of all sizes, where an in-depth understanding of materials is critical to their on-going success. We have considerable experience in both fundamental and applied research.

Research centres