Professor Neil Hopkinson
Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Sir Frederick Mappin Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
UK
Telephone: +44 (0) 114 222 7766
Fax: +44 (0) 114 222 7890
Email: n.hopkinson@sheffield.ac.uk
Profile
Professor Hopkinson graduated from The University of Nottingham in 1993 with a degree in Manufacturing Engineering and Operations Management. After a brief career experiment as a football (soccer) coach in USA he opted to embark on a PhD in Rapid Prototyping/Tooling at Nottingham in 1996 – moving his PhD to De Montfort University in 1998.
Upon completing his PhD in 1999 Neil took up a lectureship at De Montfort University and moved to Loughborough University in 2001. In 2011 he took the post of Professor of Manufacturing Engineering at The University of Sheffield.
Research Areas
Neil’s research is field is Additive Manufacturing (also known as 3D Printing among many other names). He has been pioneer of the technology as a manufacturing process, publishing the first work proposing the use of "3D Printing" for series manufacture and being the lead editor on the world’s first book into the subject.
The field of Additive Manufacturing spans many disciplines that Neil has embraced through numerous collaborations with industry and academia across the globe. However the majority of his research has been into manufacturing process/material aspects and this has led to him being an inventor on two patent families.
Neil’s work has been recognised internationally by academia (e.g. IMechE A.M. Strickland award 2011, Rapid Prototyping Journal Outstanding paper of 2010) and industry (e.g. USA Society of Manufacturing Engineers Breakthrough Technology Award 2009). He is a member of the EPSRC Peer review College (2003 to present) and has advised various organisations globally regarding manufacturing strategy.
To date Neil has secured over £3.5M of cash from public sources (EPSRC, TSB etc.) and industry funding plus further in-kind support. He has been engaged as a consultant for a number of organisations.
Research Grants Over £100,000 as Principle Investigator
- £184,729 from EPSRC Follow on Fund for Anchorless Selective Laser Melting (ASLM) of high melt temperature metals (1/10/11 - 30/9/12).
- £349,628 from EPSRC/IMCRC on Advanced Understanding and Control of Polymer Sintering (1/4/09 – 30/9/11).
- £1,092,013 from EPSRC/IMCRC plus £120,000 industrial cash for Integrated Project on Personalised Sports Footwear: From elite to High Street (1/10/06 – 30/9/11).
- £108,656 from EPSRC Follow on Fund for Proving commercial viability of high speed sintering through a larger build area (1/10/06 – 30/9/07)
- £264,751 from EPSRC/IMCRC for High Speed Sintering of Powders (1/4/04 – 30/9/06)
- £419,632 from EPSRC for Investigation into Laminate Tools for Polyurethane Foam Moulding (1/10/01 – 30/9/04)
Publications
Books
- Rapid Manufacturing: An Industrial Revolution for the Digital Age,
Hopkinson, N., Hague, R. M. J. & Dickens, P. M. (2005),
John Wiley and Sons Ltd (ISBN: 978-0-470-01613-8)
Recent Journal Papers
- A study into the recyclability of a TPU powder for use in laser sintering,
Plummer, K., Vasquez, M., Majewski, C. & Hopkinson, N. (2012),
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture, 226, pp. 1127-1135.
Available online - Optimum sintering region for laser sintered Nylon-12,
Vasquez, G. M., Haworth, B. & Hopkinson, N. (2011),
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture, 225, pp. 2240-2248.
Available online - Fracture mechanics approach to compare laser sintered parts and injection mouldings of Nylon-12,
Hitt, D. J., Haworth, B. & Hopkinson, N. (2011),
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture, 225(9), pp. 1663-1672
Available online - Effect of section thickness and build orientation on tensile properties and material characteristics of laser sintered nylon-12 parts,
Majewski, C. E. & Hopkinson, N. (2011),
Rapid Prototyping Journal, 17(3), pp 176-180.
Available Online - Selective laser melting of Inconel 625 using pulse shaping,
Mumtaz, K. A., & Hopkinson, N. (2010)
Rapid Prototyping Journal, 16(4), pp 248-257.
Available Online - Degree of particle melt in nylon-12 selective laser sintered parts,
Zarringhalam, H., Majewski, C. E. & Hopkinson, N. (2009),
Rapid Prototyping Journal, 15(2), pp 126-132.
Available Online - Selective laser melting of thin wall parts using pulse shaping,
Mumtaz, K. A. & Hopkinson, N. (2009),
Journal of Material Processing Technology, pp279-287.
Available Online - Top surface and side roughness of Inconel 625 parts processed using selective laser melting,
Mumtaz, K. & Hopkinson, N. (2009),
Rapid Prototyping Journal, 15(2), pp96-103.
Available Online - Quantifying the degree of particle melt in Selective Laser Sintering®,
Hopkinson, N., Majewski, C. E. & Zarringhalam, H. (2009),
CIRP Annals – Manufacturing Technology, 58(1), pp. 197-200
Available Online