Production and Use of oligomers (controlled low molecular polymers) in Additive Manufacture

3 year PhD Studentship in Enabling Next Generation Additive Manufacturing

In collaboration with Warwick and Birmingham Universities, as well as with the School of Pharmacy and Physics at Nottingham, the Centre for Additive Manufacturing (CfAM) http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/cfam/index.aspx will continue a deeper exploration the area of multifunctional AM through the recently awarded Programme Grant, Enabling Next Generation Additive Manufacturing.

The programme vision is to establish controlled next generation multifunctional AM and translate this to industry and researchers. Initially focussing on novel electronic and pharmaceutical/healthcare applications, the aim is to move beyond single material AM by exploiting the potential to deposit multiple materials contemporaneously for the delivery of spatially resolved function and structure in three dimensions.

Project description:
Nottingham is a recognised centre of research in the area of facile, sustainable and catalytic approaches to synthesise new oligomers (low molecular weight functional polymers). The focus of this task is to generate a range of alternative monomers and oligomers with a wide range of exciting and novel mechanical properties, that can, in turn, overcome the barriers to AM manufacturing of more complex structures. This project will deliver a full palette of novel oligomer materials for evaluation in AM processing. Furthermore, this will involve the use of controlled free radical and anionic polymerisation techniques, as these are ideal for application to the production of novel oligomers and so deliver species with differing physical and processing properties.
Work Packages: 1) controlled synthesis/scale up oligomeric structures, 2) formulation development & evaluation to define structures/activity maps for the use of these structures in AM processing & 3) development of oligomers to produce AM processed devices.