George Smith,Department of Materials,Oxford University,Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PHUK

Email: george.smith@materials.ox.ac.ukURL: www.materials.ox.ac.uk

The aims of the Department of Materials at Oxford

University stretch from cutting edge research to

encouraging knowledge of materials at school level.

At a time when some traditional scientific disciplines

are seeing student numbers fall, materials science –

and Oxford Materials – is gaining a higher profile

than ever before.

In 2001, Oxford Materials experienced one of the

most successful years in its 46-year history, says

head of department George Smith. Top rated in

The Times newspaper league table of materials

departments and the UK 2001 Research Assessment

Exercise, Oxford Materials is also now the largest –

with more active research staff than any other

materials institution in the country. Comprising

30 academics, 50 senior researchers, 60 postdocs,

20 visitors, and 75 research students, 10 of those

staff received prestigious prizes last year. Awards

came from bodies as diverse as the Royal Society and

the US National Academy of Engineering, with an

additional honor coming in the form of a knighthood

for former head of department Richard Brooks (now

on secondment as director of the Leverhulme Trust).

Blurring the boundariesDuring the last five years, the research objectives of the

Department have shifted in emphasis towards complex

multi-materials systems. Instead of categorizing research

into many subject-specific areas, activities now focus on

broader problems such as materials for aerospace

applications, rapid tooling, packaging, and biomedical

devices. Research is loosely grouped into four generic

areas – characterization, processing, properties, and theory

and modeling.

Characterization is a particular strength, with the largest

concentration of staff involved and a wealth of facilities

available. Recent research firsts include:

March 200242 ISSN:1369 7021 © Elsevier Science Ltd 2002

future for OxfordEnterprising

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• atomic-scale characterization of one-dimensional crystals

encapsulated in single-wall nanotubes;

• in situ observation of fullerene growth on graphite;

• channeling contrast imaging of dislocation structures at

fatigue crack tips;

• in situ observation of magnetization reversal in magnetic

storage device conditions;

• manipulation of single atoms in a scanning tunneling

microscope at room temperature; and

• direct three-dimensional atom probe observations of

Cottrell atmospheres around dislocations in iron.

The development of new analysis and characterization

techniques is also a strong effort. To look at grain boundaries,

unusual geometries, or thin films, for example, selective area

specimen preparation is essential. Researchers at Oxford have

developed new focused ion beam methods. For surface

characterization, ultrasonic force microscopy has been

developed into a quantitative technique, with a technology

transfer royalty agreement signed with Semitech to produce

systems commercially. A collaboration with Unilever has led

to the construction of a tribological atomic force microscope.

Another technique, high mass resolution scanning atom

probe, has been developed as part of a BRITE-EURAM project

to analyze thin films. Atom probes are an area where the

Department has particular strengths, latterly including the

spinout company Oxford Nanoscience Ltd., which produces

three-dimensional atom probe microanalysis equipment.

Efforts to improve materials processing are concentrated

at the Oxford Centre for Advanced Materials and Composites

(OCAMAC), headed up by Patrick Grant. Originally a joint

enterprise with the Department of Engineering, OCAMAC

now draws input from the Departments of Physics and

Chemistry as well. Relations with industry have been

strengthened with the appointments of visiting professors:

currently Chris Peel, director of technology for future systems

at QinetiQ (formerly part of the Defence Evaluation and

Research Agency); and John Wood, CEO of Central

Laboratories of the Research Councils (CLRC); and in the past,

Clive Bradley, former director and now advisor to Sharp

Laboratories of Europe; and Brian Eyre, former deputy

director of AEA Technology and chairman of the CLRC. New

plasma spray techniques and improvements to bond-coats

have resulted from work with Rolls Royce, while extensive

work on aluminum casting has been carried out with Alcan.

With potential benefits for solidification problems, an ultra-

sensitive calorimeter and software for predicting

microsegregation in binary alloys has been developed in

conjunction with the UK’s National Physical Laboratory.

In the field of materials properties, research interests are

diverse, ranging from the electronic (oxygen transport in

silicon) to the biomedical (drug delivery system for the

treatment of wounds). Packaging has been a major area of

activity in recent years, with the study of layered composites

leading to various innovations. The research has led to a new

model of gas barrier properties and deformation behavior, as

well as a better understanding of how these properties can be

controlled by growth conditions. The impact has been

significant – existing processes have been improved and

entirely new processes developed.

The fourth key area of activity is in theory and modeling.

Under the direction of Adrian Sutton, the Materials Modelling

Laboratory’s remit is diverse, bringing together both external

partners and complementary research within the Department.

In quantum mechanics, recent work includes the development

of new theories for current-induced forces in metallic

nanocontacts and giant magneto-resistance. The lab has also

worked with British Nuclear Fuels to develop ab initio

methods for predicting the energy of strongly correlated

oxides. The process of bond formation and breakage during

chemical vapor deposition has been modeled as part of a US

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency effort. On the

processing side, Monte Carlo methods have been applied to

clustering, ordering, and phase separation in alloys. Discrete

dislocation dynamics have proved a successful approach for

modeling crack tip plasticity, fatigue crack growth, and the

brittle-to-ductile transition in various materials.

March 2002 43

Fig. 1 UK Minister for Science, Lord Sainsbury, with former head of department BrianCantor at the opening ceremony of the Begbroke Business and Science Park.

A total annual research income of about £5 million

supports the work – and the state-of-the-art facilities that

are required. Recent investment in equipment alone, from the

UK Government’s Joint Infrastructure Fund (JIF), Joint

Research Equipment Initiative (JREI), and the Engineering and

Physical Science Research Council, totals almost £15 million.

The Department has built up extensive microscopy facilities

including the UK’s only three-dimensional atom probes for

atomic scale microanalysis; a 400 kV ultra-high resolution

electron microscope; the UK’s first field-emission gun, 300 kV

analytical electron microscope; a 400 kV electron microscope

with a gas reaction cell for in situ oxidation and reduction

work; several 100 kV and 200 kV analytical electron

microscopes; and a whole range of acoustic and scanning

probe microscopes. Other facilities include a scanning proton

microprobe; X-ray characterization equipment; and

mechanical property testing equipment. Processing facilities

cover the whole spectrum of requirements, from industrial-

scale plasma spraying to cleanrooms for prototype device

fabrication, with polymer web processing facilities for

packaging materials and functional devices in the pipeline.

Smith outlines a future emphasis that can be loosely

arranged into three areas. The all-encompassing ‘nano’ is

unsurprisingly a top priority – more specifically the

development and characterization of nanoscale materials and

devices. Emphasis will also be placed on the hottest of hot

areas, quantum computing and nanobiomaterials. The

interface with biological science is also clearly going to be an

area of growth, says Smith. He places emphasis on an

alternative to the much-hyped biocompatible materials –

‘bioincompatible’ materials (i.e. those materials in which the

interaction with biological systems is minimized rather than

maximized). They are, he points out, just as essential as

biocompatible materials in applications such as dental

implants (to avoid the attentions of bacteria), in drug

delivery systems (so that they are not expelled from the body

before drug release can occur), and microfluidic systems (to

prevent fouling of the tiny channels). Last, but not at all least,

is materials processing. What good will all these innovations

be if actual components and devices cannot be constructed?

Incubating innovationCentral to realizing future – and current – aims has been the

Department’s involvement in establishing a new £22 million

research center in a greenfield site on the outskirts of Oxford.

While the Begbroke Business and Science Park gives the

Department room to increase its research facilities, it also

provides an opportunity to diversify, working with other

departments of the university, as well as industrial interests.

Half of the site provides much-needed expansion space for

Oxford Materials, while the rest is home to an innovation

center and various materials-related high-tech companies,

including university spinout startups Oxonica (formerly

Nanox) and Opsys1. £8 million in JIF infrastructure funding

secured the Institute for Industrial Materials and

Manufacturing, along with £6.6 million from collaborating

companies, SMEs, and government agencies. Researchers

from outside organizations will be able to collaborate on

projects with the Department’s researchers via a series of

University Technology Centres and/or Applications

Laboratories, which have already been set up with AEA

Technology, QinetiQ, JEOL, Toppan, and Luxfer.

This approach is already bearing fruit with the first spinout

from Begbroke launched in 2001. With support from Ford

Motor Company, the merchant bank Beeson Gregory, and the

university, Novarc has developed a rapid tooling process that

could significantly speed up the development of new car

models and save costs. The sprayforming technology,

originally developed by Dick Jordan (now a technical director

of Novarc), sprays molten steel onto molds to create dies and

tools for production of car parts. The huge advantage of the

process is that designs can go straight from the computer to

a ceramic cast, which is then sprayformed with molten steel.

The new process takes four weeks, compared with the 20-

week turnaround of traditional methods.

With Begbroke fully occupied already, future plans are

underway to take the site into the next phase. Once again,

Oxford Materials will play a major part. Plans include the

development of interdisciplinary research institutes focusing

on nanotechnology, automotive and aerospace engineering,

and environmental technology. As well as support for

incubators within research departments, the Begbroke

Business Incubator and Technology Transfer Unit will provide

a more structured approach.

The emphasis on innovation starts at the undergraduate

level, explains Smith. Degree courses at Oxford Materials will

now include an option devoted to entrepreneurship, aimed at

giving students an insight into the commercialization of

inventions and new technologies. Run by the Oxford Science

Enterprise Centre at the newly opened Saïd Business School

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in Oxford, the course has been piloted by the Department of

Materials. The course concludes with each student preparing

a business plan for an invention of their own, an existing

start-up, or an idea drawn from other sources such as the

Oxford University patent portfolio. In the interests of

promoting entrepreneurship throughout all strata of the

university, the course is open to staff and students alike.

Initiatives such as this should surely start to change the

impression of UK science as a source of great ideas that are

never turned into successful commercial ventures – and it is

good to see a materials department at the forefront. “I have

no shame in looking to the US for ingredients of success,”

says Fiona Reid, deputy director of the enterprise center.

“Including more alumni support, Mayfield fellowships, patient

investor money and extensive networking.” Under the

direction of Liz Miller, formerly of Oxford Instruments, the

center will “be looking to bring as many entrepreneurs,

spinout directors, alumni, and regional business advisors into

the university to speak to students, advise, attend, and

educate others at events and seminars, to provide projects,

and case study material,” explains Reid.

Increasing awareness

One of the perennial problems for science departments, and

in particular for subjects like materials science that are not

taught in schools, is student numbers. One issue that the UK

Centre for Materials Education2 has been forced to turn its

attention to is the question of attracting new students to the

subject. Oxford Materials is taking a proactive role in this

area. For some years the Department has organized open

days for schools, but recently took this one stage further with

the recruitment of an ex-school teacher to advise on student

recruitment. Funded in part by the University and in part by

the Department itself, the initiative is hoped to lead to

increased adoption of the subject in future.

Looking forward, Smith can only hope that the future lives

up to 2001, which was, he says “an absolutely unprecedented

year.” What is certain is that Oxford Materials has

established itself as a force to be reckoned with in the

materials arena, both in academic and industrial sectors.MT

March 2002 45

Fig. 2 Aerial shot of the Begbroke Business and Science Park, with inset picture showing the new facilities for Oxford Materials.

FURTHER READING

1. Materials Today, 44 (6) p.56

2. Materials Today, 44 (6), p.42-45