Collaborators open new Loughborough labs

The Department of Materials at the University has made a number of investments over the past year, including a new materials degradation laboratory, a furnace room and an advanced friction materials laboratory.

Those present, including industrial collaborators from Faiveley Transport, Surface Transforms, Federal Mogul, Bentley Motors and Alcon Components are working closely with experts from Loughborough to integrate the very latest technologies into vehicle components such as lighter, more hardwearing brake discs.

Loughborough’s Dr Houzheng Wu and his team are working to understand the friction performance of advanced materials and, most importantly, to solve problems with their practical application. It is hoped research in this sector could make a direct contribution to the development of low carbon emission vehicles.

The event concluded with a tour of the Loughborough Materials Characterisation Centre which houses state of the art facilities which are available to the University’s researchers and as a service to industry. Supported by a team of specialists, the centre has a wide range of analytical techniques, with the main areas of expertise being electron and optical microscopy, surface analysis, X-ray diffraction and thermal analysis.

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