EPSRC DARE Project: Designing Alloys for Resource Efficiency - A Manufacturing Approach
A large research collaboration investigating resource efficient methods of designing and manufacturing metal alloys.
The University of Sheffield is directing a large EPSRC-funded research collaboration that investigates resource efficient methods of designing and manufacturing metal alloys. The £3.3 million project is titled Designing Alloys for Resource Efficiency (DARE) and involves AREC member Professor Mark Rainforth, as well as multiple partners from industry and academia.
Society depends on the use of metal alloys in numerous areas of life, including in transport, batteries, orthopaedics, computers, and mobile phones, and many others. However, metal alloys are a finite resource, creating an urgent need for the development of resource efficient alloys.
The DARE project works to address this challenge by designing and testing new alloys that are ready for implementation into industry.
The overall aim of the work will be to reduce the reliance on strategic metals and minimise waste in the metals industry. The methods developed within DARE will have a generic applicability to most metal alloys and will therefore impact on a wide range of industrial sectors, including manufacturing, transport, energy, healthcare technologies and defence.
Through the design of resource efficient alloys, the DARE project will contribute towards the growth of one of the largest sectors within manufacturing in the UK and Europe, address the transition towards a low carbon society.
Academic partners include Professor Tony Paxton and Professor Mark van Schilfgaarde from Kings College London, Professor Fionn Dunne and Dr David Dye from Imperial College London, and Dr Pedro Eduardo Jose Rivera Diaz del Castillo from the University of Cambridge.
Industry partners include Arcelor Mittal Steel, Magnesium Elektron magnesium alloy technology Rolls Royce, SAFRAN, Sheffield Forgemasters, SIEMENS, TATA STEEL and TIMET.