Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/M38742/01
Title:	INVESTIGATION OF AN ECONOMIC CONTINUOUS PROCESS FOR TH E MULTISTAGE DRAWING OF HIGHLY-ORIENTED POLYMER WIRES
Principal Investigator:	Barton, Professor D
Other Investigators:	Ward, Professor IM
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:	Bridon International Ltd Dupont
Department:	Mechanical Engineering
Organisation:	University of Leeds
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	16 March 1999	Ends:	15 March 2002	Value (£):	282,785
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Materials Processing
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
Exploratory research at Leeds has shown that it is possible to produce highly oriented polymer wires with outstanding mechanical properties which could prove very attractive to potential industrial users. To date however, it has only been possible to attain these properties at very low processing speeds. An applied research programme is needed to develop the technology which will lead to a step change in processing speed (up to 100 times faster). Essentially this involves moving from a single-stage high (area) reduction method to an integrated multi-stage operation in which the individual draftings are kept relatively small. This introduces a host of thermal and mechanical control problems which can only sensibly be resolved by a fundamental analysis of the process as a whole. Firstly this requires a quantification of the depenancy of material properties on strain rate and temperature. These data will provide input for a finite element analysis, intially of a single die, and then of the complete forming process, with a view to optimising the material flow and thermal gradients at each stage. After validation, the output from the modelling study will beapplied to the design of a prototype drawing machine, probably based on a four-die sequence.Engineerin of materials, structures properties and testing-mechanical. Process sytems, modelling and design. Structural polymers: Processing
Key Findings
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Organisation Website:	http://www.leeds.ac.uk