IMCRC Researchers receive excellence award
IMCRC funded researchers have received an outstanding paper award from the Emerald Group Publishing Limited for their work, published in the Rapid Prototyping Journal. The award was presented at the International Additive Manufacturing Conference in July 2010.
Professor Dave Bourell from the University of Texas (Rapid Prototyping Journal editor for the Americas) who nominated the paper said: "This one is the best stab to date at understanding and predicting the effect of SLS (Selective Laser SIntering) processing on part properties, one of the holy grails of AM (Additive Manufacturing). People set the same machine parameters on different machines and get widely different nylon part properties. Even the same machine with the same settings will run parts differently day-to-day. This paper demonstrates that the degree of particle melting may be the single microstructural variable most responsible for part properties, so understanding the effect of processing on this may hold the key."
Commenting on the award Dr Hopkinson said: "We are very proud to receive the Outstanding Paper Award from the Additive Manufacturing sector's original and globally respected academic journal. The fact that the nomination came from the University of Texas at Austin, where Laser Sintering was invented, is particularly gratifying. The novel technique that emanated from this research is being increasingly used by different practitioners of Laser Sintering and is a good example of how fundamental research, over time, can have a positive influence of the development of cutting edge technology."
Dr Neil Hopkinson is a Reader in Additive Manufacturing at Loughborough University, a member of the Additive Manufacturing Research Group (AMRG) and Principal Investigator on several IMCRC research projects. Dr Candice Majewski is a Loughborough PhD graduate and Research Associate (RA) on the IMCRC project 'Personalised Sports Footwear: From Elite to High Street'. Dr Hadi Zarringhalam an engineer at Materials Solutions is a former Loughborough RA, PhD and undergraduate student who was supervised by Dr Hopkinson and funded by the IMCRC.
