The Joining Technology Research Centre at Oxford Brookes is recognised as one of the leading establishments providing industry with access to a unique combination of engineering and scientific skills in the UK today. The foundations of JTRC go back to 1968 and the Centre has since established an international reputation for its interdisciplinary approach to joining problems. In particular, the research team has undertaken a considerable amount of research and development, and has participated in a wide range of knowledge transfer activities, in the use of adhesives and sealants for the aerospace, automotive and construction sectors.
- Analysis of bonded and sealed joints in the Automotive and Aerospace industries
- Design and analysis of future generation bonded aircraft structures
- Analysis of bonded automotive aluminium joints subject to impact loading
- Structural bonded repair techniques for the Civil Industry
- Development of QC procedures for on-site bonded composite strengthening
- Evaluation and development of design calculations for bonded timber connections and composite strengthened metallic structures
- Durability of bonded timber connections
- Surface pre-treatments of timber, natural fibres and bamboo (corona, flame, silanes)
- Life-time prediction of bonded timber-timber or timber-FRP joints
Research group membership
Joining Technology Research Centre
Cycle Mobility Group
Research grants and awards
- £1.4m TSB part funded project. Advanced composite truss structures (ACTS), TP number TP/8/MAT/6/I/Q1505D, 2007-2011.
- £22k Portuguese Science Foundation, Composite repair systems for timber, LNEC, 2004-2008
- £70k EPSRC (CASE) funded grant. Prediction of the behaviour of rivet-bonded connections in aluminium. EPSRC Grant, 2004-2007
Knowledge Base Lead academic/Supervisor
- KTP with YASA Motors, sponsored by the TSB (£142k) for the development of a mass produced bonded yokeless axial-flux electric motor (started 2011)
- KTP with CMS Industries, sponsored by the TSB (£160k) for the development of rapid assembly technologies (started 2012) Supervisor
- £400k DTI part funded project on the development of the next generation aircraft wing structures. Nodal Optimization of Truss Structures (NOTS), 2003-2006.
Researcher
- £210k DTI MMS funded project on the Classification and qualification of composite materials systems for use in the civil infrastructure. www.compclass.org.uk, 2002-2005.
- £650k EC CRAFT funded project Low Intrusion CONservation Systems for Timber Structures (LICONS). www.LICONS.org, CRAF-1999-71216, 2002-2005
- £50k EPSRC (CASE) funded grant. Multi-modulus adhesive bonding, 2001-2004
- £120k DTI PII, Timber adhesives classification and code user requirements, 2001-2003
- EPSRC funded grant. Design and Fabrication of Low NVH Multi-material Automotive Vehicle Structures. EPSRC Grant GR/S27245/01Design, 2005-2007
- Thematic Network. ‘Design Optimisation and Guidelines for Multi-material Applications’, Contract No. BRRT CT97-5029, 1997-2001
- EPSRC/IMI funded project on Advanced Joining Processes for Lightweight Vehicle Manufacture’, EPSRC Grant Ref, GR/LO3811,1997-2000
Research projects
Current research projects include the development of novel test methods for screening adhesives in realistic environments, development of polymer/ceramic compounds for space and ballistic applications, modelling of multi-material adhesive behaviour and long term performance characteristics.
Research impact
Winner of Engineering Excellence Award, 2014
Finalist in Innovate UK Best of the Best Awards, 2014
Further information
/ecm/research/engineering/consultancy-for-industry/jtrc/
/ecm/research/engineering/consultancy-for-industry/svec/