Development of sustainable PPE for higher threat clearance operations by humanitarian organisations

In 2020 it was reported that 59 countries and territories were still contaminated by both landmines and other unexploded ordnance. The threats faced by those in the demining industry have increased due to the more frequent use of IEDs. These will generally have a larger charge size than conventional mines. PPE therefore needs to be improved to keep in line with these new threats. Recently there has been a push from industry to include more sustainable materials within armour production, with some already showing some promise within literature. Ramie (Boehmeria nivea) fibres have also been previously used in studies surrounding in soft armour, hard armour, and multi-layered armour system (MAS) and Flax (Linum usitatissimum) has been investigated with regards to hard armour panels. The hard panels manufacture for this project were produced using the vacuum resin infusion method, a low-cost method that is easy enough to be used in low scale operations. A number of different configurations were created, including natural fibre para-aramid and all natural fibre combinations, all of which were subject to different mechanical tests to assess their strengths. The ballistic testing, completed on a single stage light gas gun, showed the 50% Ramie 50% para-aramid panels outperformed all others tested. A significant observation was the different fracture mechanics seen on the back face of each of the panels, something that may have contributed towards their good performance. The all-natural Flax Ramie panels also showed some significant results, with these panels outperforming several other panels which contained para-aramid materials. Future work in this project will include assessing the best performing panels under increased ballistic loads, as well as looking at the suitability aspect of these panels to determine whether they can be potentially recycled once they have been used.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)DNV Energy Systems, UKDefence and Security Doctoral Symposia 2024 (DSDS24

Investigation on the mechanism of improving the forming quality of cavitation water jet micro-punching by using a rubber membrane

Cavitation water jet micro-punching (CWJP) is a high-strain-rate micro-punching technique that utilizes high-energy shock waves generated by the collapse of cavitation bubbles to perform micro-punching on metal foils. However, defects such as brittle fracture, warpage deformation, and edge tearing often occur in the micro-punched holes due to the reverse impact of high-speed backflow. To solve this issue, a novel rubber membrane-assisted cavitation water jet micro-punching (RA-CWJP) technique was proposed in the present work, in which a flexible rubber membrane was introduced as a soft punch to prevent cavitation water jet from entering the die hole. Comparative experiments of the CWJP and RA-CWJP processes were conducted on 50 μm-thick T2 copper foils. The forming quality of micro-punched holes in both processes was evaluated based on microscopic morphology (fracture surface and cross section), shape, and dimensional accuracy. Additionally, the effect of high-speed backflow on the CWJP process was analyzed in detail. Fluid–solid coupling numerical simulations were conducted to better understand the improvement mechanism of the rubber membrane on the forming quality of micro-punched holes. The research results show that applying a 200 μm-thick rubber membrane to the CWJP process prevents brittle fractures, warpage, and edge tearing caused by the reverse impact force of backflow. Meanwhile, the rubber membrane also increases the depth of the shearing zone, and reduces both the rollover zone and burr formation. Compared to the CWJP process, the shape and dimensional accuracy of micro-punched holes formed by the RA-CWJP process increased by 16.1%–63.5% and 45.4%–82.2%, respectively. In the RA-CWJP process, the excellent fluidity and compressibility of the rubber membrane enable precise shearing separation of the copper foil along the die edge. Furthermore, the rubber membrane reduces elastic recovery after punching through enhanced plastic deformation, significantly improving the dimensional accuracy.The authors are grateful for the financial support from the Six Talent Peak Selection and Training Program of Jiangsu [XNYQC-002], the Natural Science Foundations of Jiangsu Province [BK20170752].Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineerin

Comparative life-cycle assessment of novel steel section design with wire arc additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing, particularly Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM), is emerging as a promising technology in the construction sector due to its potential to reduce environmental impacts. Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a crucial methodology for evaluating the environmental footprint of products and processes that can be carried out from raw material extraction to the end of production, commonly referred to as “cradle-to-gate” analysis. This study focuses on the environmental impact of 3D-printed steel elements using WAAM technology for construction applications. Specifically, the conventional production of Circular Hollow Section (CHS) steel components was compared with the innovative production of Tubular Sandwich Section (TSS) steel components using WAAM. The analysis provides a comparison of the carbon footprint associated to both production methods, highlighting in detail the emission factors associated with each step of the WAAM production. The results highlighted that WAAM not only offers design and structural benefits to build complex-shaped geometries but also contributes to more sustainable construction practices with a lower “cradle-to-gate” carbon footprint due to the reduced material consumption associated with material efficiency.REWAS 2025REWAS 2025: Circular Economy for the Energy Transitio

Fusion vs. Isolation: evaluating the performance of multi-sensor integration for meat spoilage prediction

High-throughput and portable sensor technologies are increasingly used in food production/distribution tasks as rapid and non-invasive platforms offering real-time or near real-time monitoring of quality and safety. These are often coupled with analytical techniques, including machine learning, for the estimation of sample quality and safety through monitoring of key physical attributes. However, the developed predictive models often show varying degrees of accuracy, depending on food type, storage conditions, sensor platform, and sample sizes. This work explores various fusion approaches for potential predictive enhancement, through the summation of information gathered from different observational spaces: infrared spectroscopy is supplemented with multispectral imaging for the prediction of chicken and beef spoilage through the estimation of bacterial counts in differing environmental conditions. For most circumstances, at least one of the fusion methodologies outperformed single-sensor models in prediction accuracy. Improvement in aerobic, vacuum, and mixed aerobic/vacuum chicken spoilage scenarios was observed, with performance enhanced by up to 15%. The improved cross-batch performance of these models proves an enhanced model robustness using the presented multi-sensor fusion approach. The batch-based results were corroborated with a repeated nested cross-validation approach, to give an out-of-sample generalised view of model performance across the whole dataset. Overall, this work suggests potential avenues for performance improvements in real-world, minimally invasive food monitoring scenarios.This research was funded as part of the Horizon 2020 ‘DiTECT’ project, (Grant Agreement No 861915)—https://ditect.eu and the Horizon Europe FOODGUARD Project, (Grant Agreement No 101136542)Food

Understanding the risk of enhanced particle penetration into slow sand filter beds when using underwater skimming techniques

This study evaluated abiotic slow sand filters (SSFs) to understand the risk of particle penetration during underwater skimming (UWS), focusing on clogging, headloss development, and particle breakthrough. Pilot-scale filters containing clean sand were challenged with dispersed kaolin particles to simulate surface accumulation, and the sand surface was agitated to mimic UWS procedures. The study was undertaken with no maturation period to consider the worst-case scenario corresponding to the period just after filter skimming. Agitating the surface and restarting flow released captured particles, some moving downward through the filter. Shallow filter depths resulted in particles appearing in the filtrate, but increasing the media depth beyond 500 mm minimized this effect. Since 90 % of headloss occurred in the upper layers, deeper particle penetration was insignificant. Increasing the hydraulic loading rate from 0.3 to 0.5 m/h reduced particle retention by 0.72 log, yet all abiotic SSFs achieved over 2 log particle capture. Small particles (2–10 μm) were removed by 2 logs, indicating sufficient non-viral pathogen retention under routine conditions. Effective capture of particles sized 2–125 μm suggested minimal risk to water quality and public health during UWS on full-scale SSFs. Using clean sand and kaolin represented a worst-case scenario, excluding biological maturation and particles. The findings suggest that under normal conditions, UWS does not increase deep particle penetration or breakthrough, supporting its safe implementation to enhance filter maintenance without compromising water quality.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (ESPRC), through the STREAM Industrial Doctorate Centre (EP/L015412/1), and financial support from Thames Water and Northumbrian Water Group.Journal of Environmental Managemen

Advancing the synergy between models and experiments to investigate environmentally and mechanically driven crack propagation

Aero-gas turbine running temperatures are rapidly increasing in order to improve their efficiency, and as a consequence components are subjected to more extreme environ- ments. With higher operational temperatures and improved reliability, there is an in- creased chance of both corrosion and mechanical degradation. In addition to operational temperatures, the environment in which an aircraft flies has a significant effect on the material life. Many contaminants are ingested by the engine and deposited on the turbine blades, which often leads to surface degradation. Depending on the ingested contami- nants, temperature, and applied stresses, cracking can be initiated and propagated rapidly. This is particularly evident in the lower-shank regions of single-crystal nickel-based su- peralloy blades, which have recently experienced significant cracking. This study aims to understand the mechanisms behind crack propagation in single- crystal nickel alloys exposed to intermediate temperatures, and when this propagation is either mechanically or chemically driven. This research started by assessing crack inter- action mechanisms that were hypothesised to be both stagnating and accelerating crack growth, depending on specific length scales and crack formations. This was performed by integrating available experimental data to calibrate a phase field model that could predict the extension of cracks for different crack separations and layouts. The modelling results clearly characterised the length scales needed to encourage crack shielding, and which crack formations would see a stress intensification and consequently crack coalescence. These results informed the decision to revisit the experimental setup to optimise which experiments were performed. Using this newly developed methodology, the salt deposi- tion method was amended with the aim of isolating the deposition sites to minimise crack interaction mechanisms. The hypothesis was that significantly longer cracks would be ob- ii served if this could be achieved. This was performed for both the C-ring (at 550°C), and corrosion-fatigue (at 700°C) tests. In the case of CMSX-4, the results were striking, with the C-ring seeing cracks as much as ten times the size of those previously seen. CMSX-10 however, did not show a significant difference, as such, a microstructural characterisation analysis was conducted, whereby the γ/γ′ structure for the two alloys was replicated from microscopy data and further phase field models were run. The results showed that a more regular structure was more resistant to crack propagation owing to the misalignment of γ′ , which caused stress relaxation in the γ channel and at the interface. Finally, this thesis shows how the model, once calibrated for one material and species, can be used to approximate the response expected for another single-crystal nickel alloy or a change in the embrittling species, while accounting for a degree of uncertainty. This is not to say that modelling can or should replace experiments but rather to highlight that preliminary modelling results can be used to build a test matrix that can reduce the number of experiments that are run. It should be noted that this thesis does not focus on the chemical/corrosive aspects in much detail, but rather investigates the importance of stress. This thesis summarises the importance of integrating modelling, microscopy, and experiments to set and answer hypotheses more efficiently.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)PhD in Manufacturin

Driving operational excellence: the role of technology-organization-environment framework in Lean Six Sigma Integrated Industry 4.0 adoption

Adopting technological innovations is crucial for organizations to survive in dynamic and competitive market scenarios. Moreover, it is essential to understand the customer needs and respond accordingly. The present research makes use of Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework for Lean Six Sigma Integrated Industry 4.0 (LSSI) adoption. Scholarly literature shows that adopting LSSI drastically reduces waste and variations while facilitating real-time data analysis. However, empirical studies on LSSI adoption are limited and therefore, this study was conducted, with data collected from 287 respondents employed in various industries. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to analyze research model, and the results indicate that TOE dimensions significantly impact LSSI adoption, which in turn influences operational performance. Furthermore, strategic alignment toward sustainability initiatives partially mediates the relationship between LSSI and operational performance, and these results are highly useful for practitioners, managers, and researchers aiming to adopt LSSI.Engineering Management Journa

Large eddy simulations of methane emission from landfill and mathematical modeling in the far field

Greenhouse gases such as methane will be generated from the landfilling of municipal waste. The emissions of noxious gas from landfills and other waste disposal areas can present a significant hazard to the environment and to the health of the population if not properly controlled. In order to have the harmful gas controlled and mitigate the environmental pollution, the extent to which the gas will be transported into the air at some time in the future must be estimated. The emission estimates (inventories) are combined with atmospheric observations and modeling techniques. In this work, large eddy simulation (LES) is used to determine the dispersion of methane in the atmosphere at large distances from the landfill. The methane is modeled as an active scalar, which diffuses from the landfill with a given mass flux. The Boussinesq approximation has been used to embed the effect of the buoyancy in the momentum equation. A logarithmic velocity profile has been used to model the wind velocity. The results in the far field show that the mean concentration and concentration rms of methane, appropriately scaled, are self-similar functions of a certain combination of the coordinates. Furthermore, the LES results are used to fit the parameters of the Gaussian plume model. This result can be used to optimize the placement of the atmospheric receptors and reduce their numbers in the far-field region, to improve emissions estimates and reduce the costs.Atmospher

Role of acid hydrocarbon chain length on the cure kinetics and thermal degradation of epoxy- dicarboxylic acid vitrimers

This study investigates the cure kinetics and thermal degradation of epoxy-dicarboxylic acid vitrimers, focusing on the effect of methylene chain length. A diffusion-controlled, modified autocatalytic kinetics model was applied, based on Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) data, whilst Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) was used to assess degradation. Increasing the methylene chain length enhanced thermal stability, with decomposition temperatures ranging from 430 °C for the hexanedioic acid formulation to 500 °C for the tetradecanedioic acid formulation. The curing process transitioned through three distinct kinetics regimes: an initial non-catalysed phase, followed by an autocatalytic stage, and finally, a diffusion-limited phase at high crosslink density. This shift leads to a 30 %-70 % reduction in apparent activation energy during the early stages. The activation energy displays a complex behaviour, initially decreasing with longer methylene sequences before rising due to competing effects of chain flexibility and reduced reactivity. Kissinger and isoconversional analyses confirmed reliable activation energy values. Despite some discrepancies in the dodecanedioic acid formulation due to secondary reactions, the model exhibits a good approximation, with an average goodness-of-fit of 84.4 %. This analysis improves understanding of vitrimer cure kinetics and thermal behaviour, providing insights for optimising industrial applications.European Polymer Journa

Mechanisms of electrochemical hydrogenation of aromatic compound mixtures over a bimetallic PtRu catalyst

Efficient electrochemical hydrogenation (ECH) of organic compounds is essential for sustainability, promoting chemical feedstock circularity and synthetic fuel production. This study investigates the ECH of benzoic acid, phenol, guaiacol, and their mixtures, key components in upgradeable oils, using a carbon-supported PtRu catalyst under varying initial concentrations, temperatures, and current densities. Phenol achieved the highest conversion (83.17%) with a 60% Faradaic efficiency (FE). In mixtures, benzoic acid + phenol yielded the best performance (64.19% conversion, 74% FE), indicating a synergistic effect. Notably, BA consistently exhibited 100% selectivity for cyclohexane carboxylic acid (CCA) across all conditions. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that parallel adsorption of BA on the cathode (−1.12 eV) is more stable than perpendicular positioning (-0.58 eV), explaining the high selectivity for CCA. These findings provide a foundation for future developments in ECH of real pyrolysis oil.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilThe authors would like to thank EPSRC (EP/T518104/1) and Cranfield University for their support.Communications Chemistr