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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/M13428/01
Title: NOVEL INSTRUMENTATION FOR ADHESIVE CURE MONITORING IN MANUFACTURING PROCESSES
Principal Investigator: Lowe, Professor M
Other Investigators:
Cawley, Professor P Cawley, Professor P
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Alcan Ford Motor Co Jaguar Land Rover
N D T Solutions Ltd Pre Nexus Migration Ricardo Group
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Organisation: Imperial College London
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 01 January 1999 Ends: 31 December 2001 Value (£): 139,348
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Materials Processing
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Manufacturing
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
Adhesive joining of sheet metal structures brings many advantages, but its adoption in safety critical structures has been slow due to uncertainty of cure state that results from measurement difficulties which this programme aims to solve. For hot cure monitoring we will research the use of low diameter wires inserted into a bond line to guide Lamb-like ultrasonic waves between a distant transducer and a hot joint. Recently established relationships between the elastic moduli of this curing adhesive and its evolving molecular structure will enable the interactions between the guided wave and the curing adhesive to be modelled to yield optimum wire types, wave modes, signal excitation schemes and processing of received signals in order to track cure. Post hot-cure assessment of the cure (and chemical) state of the adhesive is possible in the laboratory using compression wave ultrasound but implementation in a process environment requires the considerable development of transducer and signal processing technology which will form part of this programme. The two techniques will be incorporated in an advanced generic electronic instrument designed for process applications, and then evaluated in an automotive plant.
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Organisation Website: http://www.imperial.ac.uk