Researchers from the Advanced Composites Research Group developed a new system to prevent ice build-up on planes - Read more about it here.

The Advanced Composites Research Group had an exhibition stand at Advanced Engineering 2018 in Birmingham (UK) on 31^st October and 1^st November 2018. We had some great discussions and promoted our work to industry and research.

The 1^st European Conference on Crashworthiness of Composite Structures (ECCCS-1) will be organised by the ICONIC ITN at Queen's University Belfast on 19-21^st November 2019. Learn more about the conference on the dedicated ECCCS-1 website.

Mr. Massimiliano Russello joined the ACRG as a PhD student in September 2018, working on multifunctional ultra thin-ply laminates. Welcome Massimiliano!

ICONIC ESR 15 from Politecnico di Torino (Italy), Manish Hassan Nagaraj, conducted a four-week placement at QUB in August 2018, working together with Professor Brian G. Falzon, Dr. Giuseppe Catalanotti and other members of the group.

Iman Babaei, ICONIC ESR 14 from Centro Ricerche Fiat (Italy), conducted a four-week placement at QUB in July 2018, working together with Professor Brian G. Falzon, Dr. Giuseppe Catalanotti and other members of the group.

A large number of Advanced Composites Research Group members participated in the ECCM18 conference in Athens (Greece) on 24-28th June 2018, presenting their research progress.

Dr. Robert S. Pierce took up a new post as a Lecturer at the University of Nottingham Ningbo Campus (China) in June. All the best for the future, Robert!

Dr. Hugo Nolan took up a new post as a Research Fellow in the Division of Chemistry at the University of Southampton (UK) in June. All the best for the future, Hugo!

The work of the Advanced Composites Research Group, including the ICONIC and MACANTA projects, was promoted during the SMAE Research Showcase at QUB on 23^rd May 2018.

Ms. Xudan Yao passed her viva in May. She has been awarded a postdoctoral research fellowship at the National Graphene Institute of the University of Manchester. Congratulations Xudan and all the best for the future!

A new publication on an advanced anti-icing/de-icing system utilising highly aligned carbon nanotube webs, authored by ACRG members Ms. Xudan Yao, Professor Stephen C. Hawkins and Professor Brian G. Falzon, has been published in Carbon and highlighted in an article in Materials Today.

Mr. Haibao Liu passed his viva on 22^nd March. Congratulations Haibao and all the best for the future!

Mr. Ravi Chitwan passed his viva on 14^th March and should now be called Dr. Ravi Chitwan. He will take up a new post as a Development Engineer at Coventive Composites. Congratulations Ravi and all the best for the future!

Multiple members from the ACRG participated in two STEM outreach events at primary schools in South Belfast in March 2018.

Mr. Daye Sun presented his research progress in the project Plasma assisted synthesis of novel multi-functional nanocomposites at the Material and Advanced Technologies for Healthcare (MATCH) Showcase at Queen's University Belfast on 21^st February 2018.

Professor Brian G. Falzon has been invited to give a keynote lecture during the 11^th Asian-Australasian Conference on Composite Materials (ACCM-11), which will be held in Cairns (Australia) from 29^th July to 1^st August 2018. He will present on the recent work conducted in the Advanced Composites Research Group on nano-enhanced multifunctional composites.

Mr. Ravi Chitwan has submitted his PhD thesis on 8^th February 2018. Congratulations and good luck for the next steps, Ravi!

Professor Brian G. Falzon has received the RISE Connections award from the EPSRC's Deputy CEO in February 2018. Great achievement, Brian!

The Out of Autoclave Processing of Composites Conference will be held at Titanic Belfast on 15^th March 2018, 10:00 - 17:00. See the full programme and register your participation here. 

Mr. Haibao Liu has submitted his PhD thesis and will take up a new post as a postdoctoral fellow at Imperial College London in February 2018, working with Prof. John Dear. Congratulations Haibao, and all the best for your future career in London!

Mr. Daye Sun has won the 1^st prize in the 2017 Sir Bernard Crossland Poster Competation at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Ms. Joanne Campbell won the 3^rd prize in the presentation competition. Congratulations Daye and Joanne!

Mr. Ravi Chitwan has won the SEM prize of the year at the University of Cambridge's Photo Competition 2017, with his SEM image of entangled carbon nanotubes forming a stick-man figurine, called Nano-Man. Read more about his achievement here. Congratulations Ravi!

In October 2017, six new members joined the Advanced Composites Research Group. Professor Biqiong Chen joined us from the University of Sheffield. She is Professor of Polymer Engineering at Queen's University Belfast, with her research interest mainly focussed on polymer nanocomposites. Ms. Clare Burnett started her PhD position in the group and will investigate the use of auxetic material as a core for sandwich structures under sever loading conditions. Mr. Georg Graninger joined us from the Montanuniversität Leoben (Austria). His PhD will be focussed on nanocellulose and its applications in nanocomposites. Mr. Daniel Higgins started his PhD project on the micro-structure evolution of additive manufactured parts and their compatibility with coating technology. Ms. Belinda Babu Joseph started her PhD position in programmable mechanical metamaterials to improve vehicle crashworthiness. Mr. Michael Simpson embarked on a PhD project in laser direct joining of dissimilar materials for automotive applications. Welcome Biqiong, Clare, Georg, Daniel, Belinda and Michael!

The September 2017 edition of the Crash Test Technology magazine featured crash test simulation software developed by researchers from the ACRG. Please find the article here.

ACRG members Professor Brian G. Falzon, Dr. Giuseppe Catalanotti, Mr. Suhail Attar, Mrs. Farzaneh Hassani, Mr. Luís Filipe Tavares Portela Vasques Varandas, Mr. Denis Dalli and Dr. Sascha Serno are travelling to Patras (Greece) for the 1st ICONIC Summer School and 2nd ICONIC Project Meeting on 4-8^th September 2017 at the University of Patras.

We are delighted to announce that the ICCM (International Conference on Composite Materials) committee has announced that ICCM23 will take place in Belfast in 2021! This is a fantastic result after months of dedicated effort from a team led by ACRG Director Professor Brian G. Falzon and including the ACRG members, Queen's Public Engagement Office, Visit Belfast and Conference Partners International. With delegate numbers of up to 2,000 people, this prestigious event showcases world leading research in advanced composites. This announcement recognises the quality and global position of the composites sector in Northern Ireland. Congratulations to all involved!

Professor Brian G. Falzon has been invited to give a keynote lecture during ICCM-21 on 20-25^th August 2017 in Xi'an (China). 

Multiple ACRG members will present their latest results during the 21^st International Conference on Composite Materials (ICCM-21), that will take place on 20-25^th August 2016 in Xi'an (China). The members presenting during ICCM-21 are Dr. Dan Sun, Dr. Giuseppe Catalanotti, Dr. M. Ali Aravand, Dr. Evmorfia Diamanti, Dr. Andrés Nistal, Dr. Robert S. Pierce, Mr. Ravi Chitwan, Mr. Haibao Liu, Mrs. Emer McAleavy and Ms. Xudan Yao.

Professor Brian G. Falzon, Dr. Giuseppe Catalanotti, Mr. Luís Filipe Tavares Portela Vasques Varandas and Dr. Sascha Serno participated in the 1^st ICONIC Project Meeting in Turin (Italy) on 4-5^th May 2017.

Professor Pascal Hubert joined our group during his sabbatical stage at Queen's University Belfast. Professor Hubert comes from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at McGill University (Montréal, Canada). He has extensive experience in the development of process modelling tools for advanced composite materials utilising a combination of experimental and computational techniques. Welcome Pascal!

Mr. Luís Filipe Tavares Portela Vasques Varandas joined our group in March 2017 from INEGI in Porto (Portugal). He will work within the ICONIC project as a PhD student and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Early Stage Researcher, focussing on the understanding how damage mechanisms evolve in different types of composite materials at different length scales. Welcome Luís!

In March 2017, two senior lecturers joined our group. Dr. Mukul Shukla joined us from MNNIT Allahabad (India), where he was an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Shukla’s primary research interests lie within Polymer Composites (nano and natural fiber composites) and metal Additive Manufacturing (AM). Dr. Zafer Kazancı joined us from the Turkish Air Force Academy, where he was an Associate Professor since 2013. He has spent his career specialising in the behaviour of composite structures under extreme loads and specialises in blast and impact loading. His research expertise includes not only blast loaded composite structures but also crash and crush analysis including crash tube design, birdstrike certification, improving crush force efficiency and ballistic impact. Welcome Mukul and Zafer!

On 1^st February 2017, Professor Brian G. Falzon promoted the work in the ICONIC project and of the Advanced Composites Research Group in a short clip during BBC Northern Ireland Newsline and in an article in the Belfast Telegraph.

Professor Brian G. Falzon has been invited by the Rector of the Moscow Aviation Institute, Mr. Mikhail Pogasyan, to deliver a seminar in November 2016 and to promote the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Queen's University Belfast for future research collaboration and staff/student exchange.

Between September and November 2016, five PhD students joined our group. Mr. Daye Sun joined us in September from Jilin University in China and works on plasma assisted synthesis of novel multifunctional nanocomposites. Ms. Joanne Campbell joined us in October after receiving her Masters' degree in Physics from Queen's University Belfast. Her research focusses on multiphysics simulation of lightning strikes on nano-enhanced composite aircraft structures. Mr. Hong Ma also joined us in October from Shandong University in China, with his research at Queen's University Belfast focussing on the CTNs modified multi-phase hybrid epoxy nanocomposites. Mr. Denis Dalli joined our group in November from Cranfield University (UK). His PhD research is focussed on improving the current modelling techniques for composite crash simulations, for better prediction of impact damage. Mr. Stephen Smith joined our group in November from Oxford Brookes University (UK) and will work on the application of the element-free Galerkin method to simulate injection-stretch blow moulding. Welcome Daye, Joanne, Hong, Denis and Stephen!

Professor Gianluca Cicala from the University of Catania (Italy) visited us in October 2016 as part of a collaboration between our respective groups. Professor Cicala has extensive experience in the development of novel production processes for composites, polymeric blends, eco-composites, auxetics and material characterisation.

The ICONIC project (Improving the crashworthiness of composite transportation structures), funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme with €4 million and coordinated by Professor Brian G. Falzon, kicked off in October 2016 with a Kick-Off Meeting at NIACE in Belfast on 13^th October 2016, involving all senior scientists from the involved organisations. In the ICONIC project, a total of 15 early-stage researchers will work on invidiual research projects at nine different organisations in six European Union member states, including the UK, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Sweden and Germany.

Mr. Haibao Liu and Ms. Xudan Yao presented their latest results at the 17^th European Conference on Composite Materials (ECCM-17) that was held in Munich (Germany) on 26-30^th June 2016.

Dr. Giuseppe Catalanotti joined our group and the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering as a lecturer. He joined us from INEGI, the Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial engineering, which is part of the University of Porto (Portugal). His main research interests are focused on the structural integrity of advanced polymer composites. In particular, Fracture Mechanics, Continuum Damage Mechanics, Computational Mechanics for advanced polymer composites, design and manufacture of composite structures, joining of composite structures, and new test methods for composites. Welcome Giuseppe!

In May 2016, Professor Brian G. Falzon was awarded the Postgraduate Research Supervisory Excellence Award by QUB's Graduate School, based on nominations received from a number of his international PhD researchers.

Professor Brian G. Falzon was successful in securing two China Scholarship Council PhD studentships. One project looks at the relationship between phase morphology and fracture toughness of CNT-modified multi-phase hybrid resin matrices and the other will explore surface functionalisation processes for creating highly functional polymer nanocomposites.

In February 2016, the third MACANTA post-doctoral researcher, Dr. Sandeep Kumar, joined our group from DuPont. His present research at Queen‘s University Belfast is focussed on structural health monitoring of multi-scale composites using different assemblies of carbon nanotubes. Welcome Sandeep!

In January 2016, two post-doctoral researchers joined our group to work in the MACANTA project. Dr. Evmorfia Diamanti joined us from Cornell University, Ithaca (USA) where she spent two years as a post-doctoral researcher. Her research is focussed on the identification of the optimum CNT morphology with high electrical conductivity for lightning strike protection, and to develop new strategies for introducing CNTs into structural composites. Dr. Andrés Nistal joined us from the Institute of Glass and Ceramic (ICV-CSIC) in Madrid (Spain). His research interests include different aspects of carbon nanostructure-reinforced advanced multifunctional composites, and the use of CNT assemblies in carbon fibre-reinforced epoxy laminates. Welcome Evmorfia and Andres!

Mr. Wei Tan completed his PhD studies in "Modelling the behaviour of composite structures under impact and crush loading" in December 2015, under the supervision of Professor Brian G. Falzon. He joined the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge as a Research Associate. Congratulations and all the best Dr. Tan.

Dr. M. Ali Aravand joined our group as a post-doctoral researcher in October 2015, to develop and conduct industrially-oriented research at the NIACE Centre. Dr. Aravand is currently working on projects with Bombardier, B/E Aerospace, Denroy Plastics, CCP Gransden, Datum Design, and Thales. 

In October 2015, Professor Brian G. Falzon was offered the position of Head of School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Queen's University Belfast.