The Bridge Advanced Engineering R&D Centre is a collaborative scheme funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Greater Lincolnshire LEP and University of Lincoln.
Our KEY technology areas
Surfaces & Interfaces
A material’s surface dictates many important properties, including chemical reactivity & inertness, electrical or optical properties, resistance to corrosion and friction / lubricity. We have multiple techniques for imaging surfaces down to nano-meter resolution, including SEM, TEM and state-of-the-art optical microscopy. Surface topography and chemistry can be defined using AFM, EDX or Raman microscopy. Incorporating surface imaging into your materials research aids comparative functional characterisation.
Properties & Performance
Correlating chemical and surface analysis to engineering or manufacturing performance allows properties of plastics, rubbers, alloys or surface coatings to be fine tuned. The Bridge can access expertise in a range of physical testing technologies, including strength testing, electrical conductivity measurement and the analysis of surface-surface interactions, including friction, lubrication and wear. Together with molecular and surface approaches, we formulate interconnected research leading to new materials.
Structures & Bonding
The molecular structure of a material governs many important aspects of its behaviour and is typically investigated by one or more spectroscopic tools, which make use of the effects caused by the impact of light on the material. We have many years expertise in molecular spectroscopic methods, such as FT-IR, raman, UV, circular dichroism and NMR. Combinations of spectroscopies with diffraction approaches enables detailed description of the molecular properties of chemicals to refine structure-function relationships.
Elemental composition and atomic analysis
An important component of materials characterisation is to define the atoms that make up that material, whether they are abundant, structural elements or present at trace levels for key purposes. We have several techniques for detecting elements down to ppb level, including ICP-OES, XRF, SEM-EDX and various forms of mass spectrometry. Many of these techniques are quantitative or semi-quantitative, allowing detailed recipes to be determined and perfected.
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Mixtures & Formulations
Altering the composition of a mixture can have dramatic affect on its properties. Combined, our experts have many years of experience in methods to characterise existing formulations, including various forms of spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Access to cutting edge synthesis, mixing and laboratory production equipment allows new formulations to be designed, developed and produced at experimental scale.
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