Mersen Teesside
University of Teesside

Building on his work during his Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Mersen, Daniel will research alternative manufacturing methodologies for complex geometry graphite components, including investigating new binding materials for graphite-based additive manufacturing.

Graphite is a common material used in many industries. There is a high demand for many of its applications, including steel manufacturing, aerospace, nuclear generation and consumer electronics such as tablets and smartphones. Traditional graphite material manufacturing involves cutting items from large blocks of graphite, a wasteful method with the offcuts often rendered unusable for later operations.

Daniel’s work hopes to utilise graphite powder that is a recovered by-product of the traditional manufacturing methods. Due to the cost of raw graphite, any reduction in wastage amounts to significant financial savings, as well as a reduction in environmental impact by consuming less material. Daniel’s research potentially leads to further environmental benefits by reducing hydrocarbon emissions and reducing carbon dioxide emissions as graphite blocks are transported globally.