A gateway to the Polymer Interdisciplinary Research Centre Research Laboratories at the University of Bradford

Overview

The Polymer IRC Laboratories at Bradford provide a coherent, internationally leading Polymer Research grouping; genuinely interdisciplinary, with major academic collaborations worldwide,and major industrial involvement in our research.

Our research addresses significant global and local societal and commercial needs particularly in the areas of:

medical technology -

materials and devices for tissue and joint repair,

biomedical materials, including bioresorbable and shape memory materials,

drug eluting implants and fixations,

drug delivery technologies,

minimally invasive surgery technologies

prosthetics and gait;

precision manufacturing (micromoulding and conventional moulding) for control of surface features and properties, including antimicrobial surfaces and drug delivery techniques such as micro needles, telecommunications, optics and anti-counterfeiting, automotive and structural parts in polymer composites;

solid phase orientation polymer technologies for property enhancements for medical devices, such as tissue fixations and arterial stents (Arteries Ltd),  building products (Eovations LLC) ranging from decking to hurricane-resistant building products; biaxially oriented pipes (SABIC)

3-d printing for novel manufacturing using multiple streams of polymers

resource efficient materials including upcycling for food containers, thermal/acoustic barriers and enhanced properties for high added value;

modelling of novel processing and product performance in all of the above sectors.

We are a world leading research laboratory for process structuring of polymers, polymer composites/nanocomposites, biomaterials and pharmaceuticals, with novel and conventional materials processing. Our 4500 sq marea laboratories (see plan here) include: 40 advanced manufacturing computer monitored lines for melt phase, solid phase and reactive processing and 3-d printing; a clean room for nanomaterials and pharmaceuticals processing; cell culture and extensive physical and chemical characterisation over the length scales, and computer modelling of polymer melts and solids. We have wide-ranging academic collaborations and currently work with over 150 companies ( see our Bradford Industry Group) .   We also have major International presence, with particularly strong presence in China - see our International pages . We are also very concerned to develop a Circular Economy for Plastics - see our web pages here.

In Bradford, we cross the engineering, physics, chemistry and life sciences boundaries, hosting focussed but overlapping research centres as shown in the diagram below: