Metals – basic metals (aluminium, steel, copper etc), advanced alloys, super-alloys, titanium, amorphous metals, metal catalysts (eg PGM materials)

Minerals – true minerals (eg mica, graphite and titania), highly processed metals and metal oxides (for advanced applications such as magfluoride), zeolites, transition metal oxides and their hydrides

Glasses and ceramics – engineering ceramics (eg silicon carbide), boron nitride, carbon/carbon, glass ceramics, advanced fibres (such as carbon)

Electronic materials – silicon compounds, gallium arsenide, wide band gap materials, conducting polymers

Paper and pulp – fibre conversion (including hemp, flax), paper making, paper coating, pulp moulding, laminating

Wood – advanced joining technology, wood/polymer composites, wood extrusion, coatings, board production technologies

These materials are used in a variety of applications including automotive, aerospace, marine, medical and industrial products. Our knowledge and experience has been specifically applied in instances where clients want to develop new sales for existing materials technologies, to understand the value of a materials technology, or to use an unfamiliar technology within their products.

Examples of recent client projects undertaken by our materials team include:

• design of thin film multi-layer dielectric optical products using state of the art roll to roll coating processes
• development of higher value pulp-based applications in the automotive industry, for a packaging technology company
• economic modelling of natural fibre composites used in the automotive industry.