The proposed research addresses the key requirements of the aerospace, defence and automotive industries for a step-change in the performance of lightweight materials for greater efficiency, reduced emissions and environmental impact. Two different categories of nanostructured aluminium alloys will be studied: bulk nanoquasicrystalline alloys and nanofibril metal-metal composites, which represent a new and exciting way of achieving elevated temperature capability and high strength in light materials. Small-scale laboratory research on these nanostructured materials has already proven extremely promising, and it is therefore timely to explore their scale-up towards commercial quantities. Moreover, a wholly novel combined nanoquasicrystalline and nanfibril alloy will be studied in order to achieve a lightweight alloy with high strength, stiffness and toughness up to 400C. The project will involve the close monitoring and control of manufacturing conditions, and the use of some of the most advanced nanocharacterisation methods available in order to develop reproducible and reliable materials for subsequent engineering evaluation.We will demonstrate the viability of the materials developed and their associated manufacturing routes for bulk manufacture by testing real engineering components in real applications. In the final year of the programme, alloy composition/process combinations will be chosen for developing demonstrator components such as pistons, inlet valves, compressor blades and plates. We have brought together a partnership between university researchers and industrial scientists from the advanced materials supply chain, in order to ensure the scientific understanding developed is exploited with maximum impact.The research will be undertaken in the Department of Materials, University of Oxford, which is the top 5** rated materials department in the UK. It has a unique combination of near industrial scale processing techniques allied with state-of-the-art characterisation facilities, and an exceptional infrastructure for technology transfer, all of which are key to the success of the project. The industrial consortium provides key resources to manufacture and test final demonstrator components.The proposed research meets the core objectives of the EPSRC Programme building on existing capabilities and expertise and focussing on the large scale processing of novel nanostructured alloys.

The automotive industry in the UK remains one of the key strategic sectors in the overall national R&D footprint, employing some 160,000 people (38000 in motor sport) [1]. The UK is home to a number of global OEMs representing the largest inward investment in the country's R&D through the establishment of significant technical centres. Influenced by the stringent emission mandates (Euro 4: Directive 98/70/EC and amendment: 70/220/EEC) and noise pollution targets (EU:DIRECTIVE 70/157/EEC and amendment: 2007/34/EC, USA: FHWA-HEP-06-020) improvements in engine efficiency have assumed a high priority with automotive manufacturers. An effective way is to reduce frictional (parasitic) and mechanical (errant dynamic) losses, accounting for 15 / 25 % of lost energy. Errant dynamic losses refer to inertial imbalance and structural deformation, also contributing to noise and vibration pollution. The largest mechanical losses are due to translational imbalance of pistons and rotational imbalance of the crank system, with increasing engine roughness due to demands for high output power-to-weight ratio. Engine roughness refers to structural vibration of lightly damped engine systems. Worst conditions for frictional losses arise under stop-start conditions or other transient events, where interactions between system dynamics and tribological behaviour of engine sub-systems play significant roles (Andersson [2]). Nearly half of the friction losses in internal combustion engines originate in the piston-ring-cylinder contacts, about 50% (Blau et al [3]), two thirds of which is attributable to the compression ring. Hitherto, interactions between frictional and mechanical losses have not received the fundamental analysis that they deserve. With increasing demand for high performance engines, the piston is subjected to even higher loads and, thus, increased losses. At the same time, engine development is driven by high fuel efficiency and output power-to-weight ratio, as well as reduced NOx and particulate emissions. These requirements frequently lead to conflicting demands put on combustion, system dynamics and tribological performance. It is significant to note that a mere 4% reduction in parasitic losses can lead to 1% improvement in fuel efficiency. Rapidly diminishing fossil fuel deposits in the UK's territorial waters and the difficulty of extraction, together with the adverse environmental impact of significant vehicular emissions, make improved fuel efficiency by reduction of parasitic losses a national imperative and a paramount objective. Whilst large national projects have been undertaken for development of efficient combustion strategies, a large consortium project has not hitherto been undertaken for tribology and dynamics of the piston-connecting rod-crankshaft sub-system which contributes significantly to engine losses. This project will bring together experts in the fields of dynamics, surface engineering, contact mechanics, lubricant rheology and tribology to collectively provide unique and novel solutions for this challenging multi-disciplinary problem of utmost importance to the UK automotive industry. An approach incorporating these inter-related disciplines within a unified analysis framework is referred to as multi-physics. This points to a single integrated project across all the interacting disciplines to deal with physics on a wide range of scales from large displacement dynamics to small thermo-elastic distortion of components and further down to micro-scale tribological contacts (such as EHD films, and asperity interactions) and onto the diminishing conjunctions of surface textured patterns with nano-scale interactions such as the molecular behaviour of lubricants due to their physical chemistry and free surface energy effects.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

The urgent need for EV technology is clear. Consequently, this project is concerned with two key issues, namely the cost and power density of the electrical drive system, both of which are key barriers to bringing EVs to the mass market. To address these issues a great deal of underpinning basic research needs to be carried out. Here, we have analysed and divided the problem into 6 key themes and propose to build a number of demonstrators to showcase the advances made in the underlying science and engineering. We envisage that over the coming decades EVs in one or more variant forms will achieve substantial penetration into European and global automotive markets, particularly for cars and vans. The most significant barrier impeding the commercialisation EVs is currently the cost. Not until cost parity with internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles is achieved will it become a seriously viable choice for most consumers. The high cost of EVs is often attributed to the cost of the battery, when in fact the cost of the electrical power train is much higher than that of the ICE vehicle. It is reasonable to assume that that battery technology will improve enormously in response to this massive market opportunity and as a result will cease to be the bottleneck to development as is currently perceived in some quarters. We believe that integration of the electrical systems on an EV will deliver substantial cost reductions to the fledgling EV market Our focus will therefore be on the two major areas of the electrical drive train that is generic to all types of EVs, the electrical motor and the power electronics. Our drivers will be to reduce cost and increase power density, whilst never losing sight of issues concerning manufacturability for a mass market.