Leading expert to talk about the future of manufacturing in public lecture

A leading expert in technologies which are transforming industry is to talk about the latest advances in the field – and how they affect the future of manufacturing.

Professor Richard Day, the Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research) at Wrexham Glyndwr University, is an expert on the rapid manufacturing of composites – materials which are used at the cutting edge of sectors such as aerospace, transportation, and energy.

In a Learned Society of Wales lecture at the university, Professor Day will be talking about the growing demand for composites – and what the implications of that demand are for industry.

The lecture draws upon the decades of experience he has built up in composites manufacturing. He founded the North West Composites Centre at Manchester University before joining Glyndŵr eight years ago as Professor of Composites Engineering.

After joining the university he helped set up the Advanced Composites Training and Development Centre in Broughton, Flintshire.

Professor Day has continued to work closely with industry and academia partners in his research and in 2015 was awarded the EPSRC High Value Manufacturing Catapult Fellowship to work with the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and the National Composites Centre in Bristol (NCC).

In 2016, he became Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research) at Glyndwr, where he is helping to lead preparations for an application for Research Degree awarding powers for the university, as well as the preparations for submission to the Research Excellence Framework 2021. This will be his inaugural lecture in his new role.

He said: “The use of composites has transformed manufacturing – enabling, for instance, much stronger, lighter aircraft to be built than would be possible otherwise.

“That success has, however, brought challenges – as the increased demand for composite materials begins to put a strain on our current manufacturing technologies to keep up.

“As demand grows, new technology is being developed to meet those challenges, and in my lecture I will be talking about some of the advances we have made in understanding the properties of the materials composites are made up of.

“Those advances come from looking at the physics and chemistry of these manufacturing processes – and seeing how it alters and effects the materials which are produced.

“Understanding those changes is vital if we want to understand how we can meet the challenges composites present us with – now and in the future.”

Professor Day’s lecture will run from 5.30pm-7.30pm on Wednesday,

November 28 at the University’s Nick Whitehead Theatre and is free to attend.

Find out more here: https://www.learnedsociety.wales/lsw-event/rapid-manufacturing-of-composites-science-and-technology/