The Centre for Advanced Tribology at Southampton
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Southampton
Department Name: Faculty of Engineering & the Environment
Abstract
Tribology is an essential technology for nearly all UK Industry, including defence, and impacts on energy efficiency, carbon and other emissions, machine life, engine design, maintenance schedules and machine downtime, and the recovery and processing of oil reserves. It is also critical to the long term mobility, health and quality of life of patients with damaged or replacement joints. The Centre for Advanced Tribology at Southampton (CATS) will use the 3.05M S & I grant plus 6.2M gearing from the University and Industry to recruit young staff from a variety of strategic disciplines to create an internationally leading research centre. This will conduct research into areas of major national importance such as future machines of all scales, energy efficiency, emissions and human health. The key role of the new staff will be to link with 18 academics in the School of Engineering Sciences and to 18 academics in six other Schools/Centres within the University of Southampton. The other Schools participating will be those of Electronics and Computer Science, Biological Sciences, Medicine, Mathematics, Statistics and Chemistry, thus creating a truly multidisciplinary Centre. This will be the first large interdisciplinary centre specifically focused on Tribology in the UK. CATS will uniquely address the combination of multiscale modelling, analytical and experimental techniques to develop a better understanding of tribological processes at the molecular, nano and micro scales. This understanding will be used in the development of micro-systems as well as predictive models concerned with macro contact performance. It will also address the interactions of biology and tribology, critically, by coupled modelling-experimental approaches to the nature of solid/liquid and cell-surface interfaces in biotribological and biological processes. CATS will have a distinctive platform by accessing the world class facilities and expertise at Southampton in high performance computing (Microsoft Institute of High Performance Computing), microfabrication and MEMS (new 60M clean room complex), advanced surface science, Developmental Sciences incorporating the Centre for Human Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration in the School of Medicine as well as researchers in electrochemistry and biological sciences. CATS would use these resources for innovative modelling, applying novel solutions to MEMS, developing MEMS as sensors and novel probes for tribological processes, surface film characterisation by scanning probes. It would also deploy advanced electrochemical techniques to understand the human biological reactions to metal ion release and the surface-biotribology performance of joint implants. CATS will also aim to use collaborations with over twenty industrial partners with major tribological activities (such as Airbus, DePuy, Shell, Lloyd's Register, Dstl, NPL and Schlumberger) to ensure that the research footprint of the centre is aligned with industrial need, research can be exploited efficiently and to ensure effective national technology transfer of the knowledge generated by the centre.
Organisations
- University of Southampton (Lead Research Organisation)
- HEFCE (Co-funder)
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Collaboration)
- Score Europe Ltd (Project Partner)
- ESR Technology Ltd (Project Partner)
- Chevron (United States) (Project Partner)
- German Aerospace Center (Project Partner)
- The Welding Institute (Project Partner)
- Teer Coatings (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Lloyd's Register Foundation (Project Partner)
- Schlumberger (United States) (Project Partner)
- Daido Industrial Bearings Europe Ltd (Project Partner)
- Phoenix Tribology Ltd (Project Partner)
- Rotork Controls Ltd (Project Partner)
- Oerlikon (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Airbus (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Project Partner)
- TaiCaan Technologies Ltd (Project Partner)
- Schlumberger (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Smiths Aerospace Electronics Systems Sou (Project Partner)
- Finsbury Orthopaedics Ltd (Project Partner)
- DePuy Synthes (International) (Project Partner)
- Micro Materials (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Shell (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
Publications
Nicolini P
(2018)
Structural Ordering of Molybdenum Disulfide Studied via Reactive Molecular Dynamics Simulations.
in ACS applied materials & interfaces
Limbert G
(2013)
On the mechanics of bacterial biofilms on non-dissolvable surgical sutures: a laser scanning confocal microscopy-based finite element study.
in Acta biomaterialia
Monclús M
(2017)
Selective oxidation-induced strengthening of Zr/Nb nanoscale multilayers
in Acta Materialia
Allan RN
(2016)
Low Concentrations of Nitric Oxide Modulate Streptococcus pneumoniae Biofilm Metabolism and Antibiotic Tolerance.
in Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy
Ou Y
(2016)
A MEMS thermal shear stress sensor produced by a combination of substrate-free structures with anodic bonding technology
in Applied Physics Letters
Wang Q
(2018)
Fracture toughness and sliding properties of magnetron sputtered CrBC and CrBCN coatings
in Applied Surface Science
Howlin RP
(2016)
Biofilm prevention of gram-negative bacterial pathogens involved in periprosthetic infection by antibiotic-loaded calcium sulfate beads in vitro.
in Biomedical materials (Bristol, England)
Leyva-Mendivil M
(2017)
Implications of Multi-asperity Contact for Shear Stress Distribution in the Viable Epidermis - An Image-based Finite Element Study
in Biotribology
Luxa J
(2017)
2H?1T Phase Engineering of Layered Tantalum Disulfides in Electrocatalysis: Oxygen Reduction Reaction.
in Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)
Zhou S
(2017)
Rare earth Ce-modified (Ti,Ce)/a-C:H carbon-based film on WC cemented carbide substrate
in Chinese Physics B
Stoodley P
(2016)
CORR Insights(®): Biofilm Antimicrobial Susceptibility Increases With Antimicrobial Exposure Time.
in Clinical orthopaedics and related research
Chen L
(2014)
Explicit finite deformation analysis of isogeometric membranes
in Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering
Walsh F
(2017)
The rotating cylinder electrode for studies of corrosion engineering and protection of metals-An illustrated review
in Corrosion Science
Sirry MS
(2016)
Infarcted rat myocardium: Data from biaxial tensile and uniaxial compressive testing and analysis of collagen fibre orientation.
in Data in brief
Wheeler D
(2018)
High velocity erosion of CVD diamond coatings by diamond particles
in Diamond and Related Materials
He Y
(2017)
An electrodeposited Ni-P-WS2 coating with combined super-hydrophobicity and self-lubricating properties
in Electrochimica Acta
Nie M
(2016)
Electrochemical detection of cupric ions with boron-doped diamond electrode for marine corrosion monitoring
in Electrochimica Acta
Fabbri S
(2017)
Fluid-driven interfacial instabilities and turbulence in bacterial biofilms.
in Environmental microbiology
Adams G
(2018)
Bone Apparent and Material Densities Examined by Cone Beam Computed Tomography and the Archimedes Technique: Comparison of the Two Methods and Their Results
in Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering
Grande R
(2017)
Detection and Physicochemical Characterization of Membrane Vesicles (MVs) of Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938.
in Frontiers in microbiology
Šmelova V
(2017)
Electron microscopy investigations of microstructural alterations due to classical Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF) in martensitic AISI 52100 bearing steel
in International Journal of Fatigue
Šmelova V
(2017)
Microstructural changes in White Etching Cracks (WECs) and their relationship with those in Dark Etching Region (DER) and White Etching Bands (WEBs) due to Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF)
in International Journal of Fatigue
Wang Q
(2017)
Study on the crack resistance of CrBN composite coatings via nano-indentation and scratch tests
in Journal of Alloys and Compounds
Zeller-Plumhoff B
(2017)
Phase contrast synchrotron radiation computed tomography of muscle spindles in the mouse soleus muscle.
in Journal of anatomy
Burson-Thomas C
(2017)
Developments in Erosion-Corrosion Over the Past 10 Years
in Journal of Bio- and Tribo-Corrosion
Shearwood-Porter N
(2017)
Damage mechanisms at the cement-implant interface of polished cemented femoral stems.
in Journal of biomedical materials research. Part B, Applied biomaterials
Fabbri S
(2016)
High-Velocity Microsprays Enhance Antimicrobial Activity in Streptococcus mutans Biofilms.
in Journal of dental research
Burson-Thomas C
(2019)
Importance of Surface Curvature in Modeling Droplet Impingement on Fan Blades
in Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power
Monclús M
(2017)
Effect of layer thickness on the mechanical behaviour of oxidation-strengthened Zr/Nb nanoscale multilayers
in Journal of Materials Science
Wang C
(2016)
An investigation into the effect of substrate on the load-bearing capacity of thin hard coatings
in Journal of Materials Science
He L
(2017)
Metal contact quenching mechanism of sintered SrAl2O4:Eu2+, Dy3+ composite coating
in Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics
Callisti M
(2016)
Bubbles formation in helium ion irradiated Cu/W multilayer nanocomposites: Effects on structure and mechanical properties
in Journal of Nuclear Materials
Dusane DH
(2018)
Targeting intracellular Staphylococcus aureus to lower recurrence of orthopaedic infection.
in Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society
Whittaker RK
(2017)
Variation in taper surface roughness for a single design effects the wear rate in total hip arthroplasty.
in Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society
Leyva-Mendivil MF
(2015)
A mechanistic insight into the mechanical role of the stratum corneum during stretching and compression of the skin.
in Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials
Quinci F
(2014)
Towards an accurate understanding of UHMWPE visco-dynamic behaviour for numerical modelling of implants.
in Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials
Sirry MS
(2016)
Characterisation of the mechanical properties of infarcted myocardium in the rat under biaxial tension and uniaxial compression.
in Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials
Nobakhti S
(2017)
Elastic modulus varies along the bovine femur.
in Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials
Limbert G
(2016)
The anisotropic mechanical behaviour of electro-spun biodegradable polymer scaffolds: Experimental characterisation and constitutive formulation.
in Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials
Limbert G
(2011)
A mesostructurally-based anisotropic continuum model for biological soft tissues--decoupled invariant formulation.
in Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials
Pond D
(2018)
Microstructurally-based constitutive modelling of the skin - Linking intrinsic ageing to microstructural parameters.
in Journal of theoretical biology
Jonnalagadda US
(2018)
Acoustically modulated biomechanical stimulation for human cartilage tissue engineering.
in Lab on a chip
Laborda A
(2018)
Fatigue assessment of multilayer coatings using lock-in thermography
in Materials & Design
Herd S
(2018)
Explicit fracture modelling of cemented tungsten carbide (WC-Co) at the mesoscale
in Materials Science and Engineering: A
Niste V
(2016)
Tungsten dichalcogenide lubricant nanoadditives for demanding applications
in Materials Today Communications
Cogan NG
(2016)
Predictive Computer Models for Biofilm Detachment Properties in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
in mBio
Niehaus W
(2016)
Development of X-ray micro-focus computed tomography to image and quantify biofilms in central venous catheter models in vitro
in Microbiology
Dawe H
(2017)
D-methionine interferes with non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae peptidoglycan synthesis during growth and biofilm formation.
in Microbiology (Reading, England)
Description | External income of over £2,5M from industry has led to building capacity and knowledge transfer. Orgainsed and hosted the first Faraday Discussion in Tribology in 2012. Prestigeous student prizes from IMechE, IoP and IoM3 as well as the Duncan Dowson best paper award from Leeds-Lyon Tribology symposium 2012. |
Exploitation Route | KTP fellow amd numerous PhDs now working as tribologists in industry. Two KTPs and two KTSs awarded. |
Sectors | Energy,Healthcare,Transport |
URL | http://www.southampton.ac.uk/ncats |
Description | The S&I funding allowed the tribology group at Southampton to grow from 5 to 50 researchers with 5 new academic and 5 new PDRA posts filled over the grant period as well as broadening and reinvigorating the discipline in new research for traditional and non-traditional areas, such as renewable energy and biotribology (hips, skin and dental aspects). This is directly coupled to the EPSRC priority areas of mechanical engineering, energy, healthcare, ageing population and manufacturing. The S&I award has helped build capacity in tribology at Southampton to a current cohort of 12 academics, 4 visiting professors, 3 post-docs and 30 PhD students and one technician. The centre staff collaborate across three faculties within the University. It has formed strategic international partnerships with Tribologists in China, India, Singapore, USA, South Africa and Finland as well as UK based centres at Leeds, Sheffield and Imperial. It organised and chaired the first Faraday Discussion in Tribology which was published in the Proceedings of the Faraday Discussion published by the RSC. There is now a new annual tribology symposium series between the UK, China and Sweden which is now in its tenth year with the 4th UK-China Tribology Symposium being published in a special issue of Wear Journal. The centre has won over £4M funding since 2014 and has worked with 100 companies. This has led to a unique opportunity for technology transfer and road mapping future industrial needs, allowing several cross-sector clubs to be formed drawing in the SME to multinational scale companies.' The centre attracted £150k of consultancy annually over the grant period that delivered real solutions such as: it achieved a 20% increase in the stability and mechanical efficiency of worm gears in industrial actuators for Rotork. Knowledge transfer concerning gear face patterns and lubrication regimes enabled the company to launch a new product (IQ3) within a shorter time frame. In fact the work by nCATS has been applicable to products accounting for 80% of Rotork Controls profits. This has led to nC2 (nCATS consulting) a spin-in company (enterprise unit) with 4 employees and annual turnover of £1m and is the best performing enterprise unit in the faculty. Direct research impacts on industry include changes to how BNFL/Sellafield processes its radioactive slurry. UoS results were included in a BNFL Design Guide for slurry handling pipework and components. This research has continued impacting designs since 2008. The guide has been adopted throughout BNFL, with no failures or shutdowns reported since publication. This work is critical: rules issued by the Health and Safety Executive demand that BNFL pumps and processes the slurry without any leakages during plant lifetime, due to the radioactive nature of the slurry. Sellafield Ltd, the company responsible for nuclear decommissioning and waste management, placed several further projects with nCATS, most recently - in 2011 - an independent technical review of an internal desktop wear study of jet erosion from sludge handling plant agitators. (RIfI Document Ref. 00709/R, 30/08/11). This study highlighted the vulnerability of stainless steel valve parts to erosion. Erosion damage was avoided by Sellafield employing a more erosion resistant material in the identified parts of valves. This improved design was put forward for a BNFL award. Professor Polcar for example has has extensive funding track record from bodies in the Czech Republic (GAAV,GACR, MPO), Portugal (FCT), UK (TSB, EPSRC, DSTL, Innovate UK). He was successful with European bids (FP7: Radinterfaces 2011-2014; HardAlt 2013-2016, AgriSenSact (2014-2016) and now he runs two H2020 projects (MSCA ITN project Solution, coordinator, and FET Open project Icarus). His research covers large area of surface engineering, particularly design, deposition and characterisation of thin films, radiation damage, nanoscale mechanical properties and interface phenomena. He pioneers novel self-lubricant coatings with self-adaptive nanostructure and high temperature tribology of thin films. His total funding portfolio is over £6m and he has number of industrial collaborators. People skills pipeline: Of the 5 new academic hires at lecturer level and the three existing staff, one has been made professor at Ohio State University, one is now Deputy head of school research in Engineering and head of the materials research group, one is now a professor and head of nCATS, one is now associate dean research for the faculty of engineering and physical sciences at Southampton, two are associate professors and two assistant professor. Of the five PDRAs hired, one is assistant lecturer in the energy technologies group at Southampton, one is newly appointed assistant lecturer in nCATS, two are associate professors at Portsmouth University and one a civil servant in Turkey. 52 PhDs have graduated since the formation of nCATS with 21 being female and 24 industrially sponsored. Over 50% have gone into industrial careers. Recently nCATS has developed new collaborations Schaeffler, GSK and BAESystems. It returned an impact case study into REF2014 impact case study, https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimpact.ref.ac.uk%2Fcasestudies%2FCaseStudy.aspx%3FId%3D44169&data=01%7C01%7CS.K.Richardson%40soton.ac.uk%7C08701918199f4d8cd79008d7c4faedc7%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&sdata=0mVc41O%2FP6rVgMKCm4UmucTXNdnSugY%2B2RDapUOCGM8%3D&reserved=0. Professor Ling Wang is making major contributions to the understanding of damage processes that lead to premature bearing failures in wind turbines by detecting White etching crack using multiple sensing and advanced signal processing techniques', sponsored by Schaeffler Technologies and University of Southampton, 2016 - 2019, Dr Walker (now lecturer but hired as a PDRA by the S&I award has led scuffing detection in cylinder liners with EPSRC KTI funding with SWR (USA) and Phoenix Tribology Ltd. (UK). Research led by Professor Wood entailed the understanding of complex interactions between erosion and cavitation damage on gas turbine and wear resistant materials that enabled damage and material loss rates to be determined Dr Wharton led a collaborative research study into the marine corrosion performance of marine propulsion materials, such as nickel-aluminium bronze; the influence of seasonal biofouling and environmental factors on the protective oxide films present on these copper-based alloys. This work established the complex coupling between to biofilm activity and protective film formation. The findings have been disseminated across MoD Integrated Project Teams, BAE Systems and also to the Copper Development Association Research led by Dr Cook, a novel method has been developed for the analysis of retrieval hip replacement components based on 3D mapping of worn areas. In partnership with the precision metrology company RedLux Ltd, Cook validated a new method of evaluating internal tapers of hip replacements. The non-contact method enhanced the resolution of the taper assessments, provided greater accuracy, added detail to the assessment of origins of material loss and also significantly reduced measurement times compared to traditional contact measurement assessments Drs Limbert and Sutton developed a wear modelling platform implemented within COMSOL Multiphysics®. This software enables the reliable physics-based simulation of mild sliding wear for varying Lubrastrip™ geometry used in P&G products (sold worldwide under the brand GilletteTM) by non-experts through a customised graphical user interface. These numerical tools are now transferrable to P&G R&D teams not versed in computational techniques and also to teams in other P&G Divisions (e.g., baby care, laundry). The new technique developed during EPSRC sponsored Sutton's KTS reduces the simulation time from several days in the company's old system to 20-30 minutes and was already guiding P&G R&D teams in chemistry formulation and Lubrastrip™ design. |
First Year Of Impact | 2008 |
Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Energy,Healthcare,Transport |
Impact Types | Economic |
Description | A computational modelling approach to the design and testing |
Amount | £88,174 (GBP) |
Organisation | F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG |
Department | Roche Diagnostics |
Sector | Private |
Country | Global |
Start | 07/2017 |
End | 12/2017 |
Description | EPSRC Network |
Amount | £868,704 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/M027260/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2015 |
End | 06/2017 |
Description | EPSRC Platform Grant |
Amount | £1,200,359 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/J001023/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2011 |
End | 12/2016 |
Description | EPSRC Standard Research |
Amount | £635,797 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/G042195/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2009 |
End | 12/2013 |
Description | EPSRC Standard Research |
Amount | £174,558 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/K040375/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2013 |
End | 05/2017 |
Description | EPSRC Standard Research |
Amount | £22,928 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/K005103/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2012 |
End | 11/2015 |
Description | EPSRC Standard Research |
Amount | £1,010,584 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/K013319/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2013 |
End | 05/2017 |
Description | EPSRC Technology Programme |
Amount | £57,867 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/K50404X/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2013 |
End | 03/2015 |
Description | H2020-MSCA-ITN/ETN-2016-SOLUTION-Tomas Polcar |
Amount | £630,644 (GBP) |
Funding ID | to be determined. Web presence at http://www.itn-solution.eu/ |
Organisation | European Commission |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 10/2016 |
End | 09/2020 |
Description | Nanocomposite coatings based on metal oxides |
Amount | £110,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | The Royal Society |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2016 |
End | 10/2019 |
Description | Renaissance of alloys: nanocrystalline bimetals |
Amount | £223,099 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/R041768/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2018 |
End | 12/2019 |
Description | Hong Kong Polytechnic University |
Organisation | Hong Kong Polytechnic University |
Country | Hong Kong |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Experimentally-informed multiphysics modelling of laser skin rejuvenation procedures |
Collaborator Contribution | Experimentally-informed multiphysics modelling of laser skin rejuvenation procedures |
Impact | mechanical engineering and bioengineering |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | BBC TV |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | BBC South news: Interview on metal on metal hips and project with surgeons at Southampton General Hospital. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | Chair of UK Tribology |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Prof R Wood was appointed chair of the cross-institutional committee called UK Tribology which promotes Tribology to non-specialists. Institutions involved include IMechE, IET, IoP, IoM3 and RSC. . |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014,2015,2016,2017,2018 |
Description | Radio |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | BBC Radio Solent: Interview about what tribology is and relevance to the UK economy. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |