Advanced Ceramics Research
From aeroengines to electronic packaging and dinner plates to rocket nozzles, ceramics are ubiquitous in our daily lives, and the ongoing research and development at the Advanced Ceramics Research Group (ACRG), as well as global demand continue to expand their potential applications further.
The ACRG at Loughborough University's Department of Materials boasts over 25 years of expertise in advanced ceramic materials processing. Guided by the vision of creating fundamental scientific understanding and providing innovative, interdisciplinary solutions, the ACRG emphasises sustainable, eco-friendly manufacturing routes for the processing of advanced materials and devices. Their motto, "Research that Matters," underscores their commitment to knowledge exchange and technology transfer from laboratory to industrial floor.
The ACRG has pioneered energy-efficient microwave, hybrid, flash, and ultra-fast high-temperature processing methods (cumulatively referred as field assisted sintering techniques (FAST), as well as Additive Manufacturing (AM) for advanced functional ceramics. Loughborough University is now recognised as a global leader in the utilisation of these techniques along with extensive materials characterisation in all length scales through LMCC. The group's unique research on the combination of AM + FAST spans a wide range of products, from traditional to nanostructured materials, with applications in energy, electronics, healthcare, and defence.
Research aims
The twin challenges associated with advanced ceramics manufacturing are complex shaping and energy intensive high temperature sintering. Complex shaped designed ceramic components are an integral and irreplaceable part of many demanding applications in aerospace, space, automotive, healthcare sports and defence sectors. However, conventional manufacturing of these components with necessary precision is often achieved through subtractive manufacturing techniques involving significant grinding, machining and polishing operations – leading to material wastage, labour cost and low throughput.
The research aim focuses on leveraging Additive Manufacturing to fabricate complex ceramic structures that are difficult to achieve through conventional methods. By pioneering innovative, eco-friendly, low/no carbon emission manufacturing methods, the ACRG seeks to advance the production of functional ceramics with minimal environmental impact by using AM and FAST.
Methodology
Our recent funding via The Midlands Industrial Ceramics Group (MICG, that has 15+ industrial members, 3 leading universities, several government bodies, and RTOs) aims to “position the Midlands as a world leader in advanced ceramics”, see the news article and post on the MICG website.
The research uses state-of-the-art 3D printers (some of them are specifically designed to be versatile and economically viable) and unique field assisted processing equipment involving microwave, flash, UHS, cold and hybrid sintering methods to manufacture advanced ceramic components with unparalleled design freedom and with hitherto unexplored nano, micro and macro structural features.
Findings
The specific outcomes demonstrated at LU over the years are superior hydrothermal ageing resistance, unrivalled electro-chemical performance, wear performance, ablative resistance (in ultra-high temperature composites for hypersonic and space-reentry vehicles), dielectric performance of nanomaterials surpassing existing commercial devices, ability to produce ‘soft’ nano granules and concentrated nano suspensions of industrially important ceramics/composite systems. Recently BBC telecasted a documentary on our 3D printed bioceramic implants titled “Materials for the Modern Age” – that outlines 6 major technologies that will shape the future! End applications ranging from valve components for petrochemical industry, through to wear components, ballistic protection, high energy capacitor/varistors, Li/Na- batteries, solar driven hydrogen generation, UHTCs, microwave catalysis for wastewater treatment and hip/knee/dental implants. Some of the patents related to microwave processing and nanotechnology were licensed to companies in UK, USA, and Ireland. Our work on the microwave assisted processing of NASICONs, base metal capacitors at high pO2 atmospheres, FIC glasses for ROM devices, SiCf-SiC and UHTC composites for aerospace/ space applications, microwave-assisted catalysis for wastewater treatment, 3D printed biomedical implants and microwave devices were regarded as the first such reports in the field. The group was also responsible for re-optimising peak performance in nanostructured ceramics based on grain size dependent phase boundary shifting. Recently, our work on Green Filter for purifying molten metal was selected as one of the top 100 research innovation research innovation projects from >2800 applications across the globe for its societal and environmental impact to showcase in the Dubai Prototypes for Humanity event. The recent activities are focused on demonstrating the feasibility of novel microwave/flash/cold sintering methods and on the hybridisation of additive manufacturing and field assisted processing – the group’s work was also nominated for the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Collaborative Research and Innovation Category in 2024.
One of our recent findings reported, for the first time, the additive manufacture of sodium polyaluminate solid-state electrolyte structures via material extrusion. This approach showed great potential as it could open up the possibility for one-stop fabrication of multi-layer and multi-material manufacture of all solid-state battery structures, necessary to meet the future energy storage needs. Further, we reported the application of digital light processing (DLP) for the manufacture of battery electrolyte structures which could pave the way for transformative applications in energy storage. Specifically, it lays the groundwork for the 3D printing of all-solid-state fully ceramic batteries. Moreover, the proposed methodology could facilitate the seamless creation of intricate interdigitated structures, incorporating interpenetrating anodes, cathodes, and electrolytes, all achievable in a single additive manufacturing process.
The implications of ACRG’s work for industry practices are profound. AM offers enhanced design flexibility, enabling the production of complex and customized components that traditional methods cannot achieve. This reduces material waste and energy consumption, contributing to more sustainable manufacturing practices. These advancements promote economic competitiveness by reducing costs, improving quality, and enabling faster time-to-market. Overall, the ACRG's work addresses critical societal and industrial challenges, advancing sustainability and technological progress.
Impact
The development of agile ceramic additive manufacturing processes aligned with high value manufacturing principles will give the regional, national and international advanced ceramics sector a very strong competitive advantage to radically change the ceramic manufacturing industry and to take lead of an evolution in design, scale-up, application and production. Furthermore, ACRG’s digitally enabled fabrication methods could impact the manufacturing sector by rewriting the rules of product creation. These developments will provide an integrated platform of digital intuitive manufacturing enabling the UK to lead, adopt & adapt to the emerging Industrial Revolution 4.0.
Some representative PR links that demonstrated the impact of ACRG’s research work
- Ampere Newsletter
- Loughborough University News 11 August 2020
- The Faraday Institution Seed project details
- Market screener website
- Article on the Manufacturer.com website
- Article in the Asian Lite website
Representative publications from ACRG
- Kundumani Janarthanan, AK and Vaidhyanathan, B (2025) Additive Manufacturing of Smart Footwear Components for Healthcare Applications, Micromachines, 16(1), pp.30-30, DOI: 10.3390/mi16010030.
- Goulas, Athanasios; Xie, Dongrui; Gatzoulis, George; Saremi-Yarahmadi, Sina; Vaidhyanathan, Bala; Rapid manufacture of sodium polyaluminate electrolyte ceramics for solid state batteries via direct ink writing, Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 44, 8, 5041-5047, 2024
- Goulas, Athanasios; Xie, Dongrui; Gibitz, Judith; Saremi-Yarahmadi, Sina; Vaidhyanathan, Bala; Digital light processing of sodium-beta-alumina ceramic electrolytes, Applied Materials Today, 39, 102276, 2024
- Goulas, A, Whittaker, T, Chi-Tangyie, G, Reaney, I, Engstrom, D, Whittow, W, Vaidhyanathan, B (2023) Multi-material additive manufacture and microwave-assisted sintering of a metal/ceramic metamaterial antenna structure, Applied Materials Today, 33, 101878, ISSN: 2352-9407. DOI: 10.1016/j.apmt.2023.101878.
- Sumithra, S, Ketharam, A, Ellmore, A, Vaidhyanathan, V (2022) Microwave assisted processing of X8R nanocrystalline BaTiO3 based ceramic capacitors and multilayer devices, Open Ceramics, 9, 100214, DOI: 10.1016/j.oceram.2021.100214.
- Wu, J, Zhao, J, Vaidhyanathan, B, Zhang, H, Anshuman, A, Nare, A, Saremi-Yarahmadi, S (Accepted for publication) Rapid microwave-assisted bulk production of high-quality reduced graphene oxide for lithium ion batteries, Materialia, pp.100833-100833, ISSN: 2589-1529. DOI: 10.1016/j.mtla.2020.100833.
- Venkatachalam, V, Vaidhyanathan, V, Binner, J (2020) Synthesis of nanocrystalline barium titanate: Effect of microwave power on phase evolution, Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 40(12), pp.3974-3983, ISSN: 0955-2219. DOI: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2020.04.043.
- Rowlands, W and Vaidhyanathan, V (2019) Additive manufacturing of barium titanate based ceramic heaters with positive temperature coefficient of resistance (PTCR), Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 39(12), pp.3475-3483, ISSN: 0955-2219. DOI: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2019.03.024.
- Saremi-Yarahmadi, S, Binner, JGP, Vaidhyanathan, V (2018) Erosion and mechanical properties of hydrothermally-resistant nanostructured zirconia components, Ceramics International, 44(9), pp.10539-10544, ISSN: 0272-8842. DOI: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2018.03.074.
- Anshuman, A, Saremi-Yarahmadi, S, Vaidhyanathan, V (2018) Enhanced catalytic performance of reduced graphene oxide–TiO2 hybrids for efficient water treatment using microwave irradiation, RSC Advances, ISSN: 2046-2069. DOI: 10.1039/C8RA00031J.
- Ghanizadeh, S, Grasso, S, Ramanujam, P, Vaidhyanathan, V, Binner, JGP, Brown, PM, Goldwasser, J (2017) Improved transparency and hardness in α-alumina ceramics fabricated by high-pressure SPS of nanopowders, Ceramics International, ISSN: 1873-3956. DOI: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.09.150.
- Ghanizadeh, S, Ramanujam, P, Vaidhyanathan, V, Binner, JGP (2017) Spray freeze granulation of submicrometre alpha-alumina using ultrasonication, Journal of Ceramics Science and Technology, ISSN: 2190-9385. DOI: 10.4416/JCST2016-00078.
- Paul, A, Binner, JGP, Vaidhyanathan, B, Heaton, ACJ, Brown, PM (2016) Heat flux mapping of oxyacetylene flames and their use to characterise Cf-HfB2 composites, Advances in Applied Ceramics, 115(3), pp.158-165, ISSN: 1743-6753. DOI: 10.1080/17436753.2015.1104050.
Experts involved:
- Academic Staff:
- Research Staff:
- PhD students:
- Parvathi Vasudevan
- Cameron Wallace-Carville