Thursday 27 March 2014

Speaker Background

Thank you to Abdul and Gary for taking the time next Thursday to tell us how electron microscopy has made a positive difference to their companies, both based in Plymouth:




 Gary Hughes – Barden Corporation (UK) Ltd

Gary joined Barden, a world leader in the design and manufacture of super precision ball bearings, as a Technician Engineer in 1996 after studying Mechanical Engineering at Loughborough University. Initially, he provided support to the Engineering teams (reports, calculation, examinations, drawings) before progressing through the department in various roles (Design & Development Engineer, Product Engineer, Senior Engineer) before being appointed as the Product Engineering Manager in 2011 where he manages a team of 14 engineers, including product design engineers and application engineers.

The company has used the EMC for almost 20 years; initially when Barden started developing their super-finishing techniques and standard optical microscopy just didn’t provide sufficient magnification or resolution to understand how the surface finish of their products could be influenced.

As well as surface finish, Barden has increasingly used the EMC for other analysis, including failure analysis of bearings (either from the field or those in production); examination of grain micro-structure; identification of elements associated with known contaminants; distinguishing between coatings and their substrates.




Abdul Saeid – Fine Tubes Ltd

Abdul joined Fine Tubes Ltd, a global metal tubing manufacturer, in January 2013 as a Process Engineer. Prior to this, he was a researcher at the National Centre for Industrial Microwave Processing (NCIMP) at the University of Nottingham where he also completed his PhD in February 2012.

Having made the jump from academia to industry, he has appreciated the benefits of analytical tools, such as SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and EDAX, from different perspectives. During his doctorate in Chemical Engineering he was involved in characterising the mineralogy of oil sand and oil shale deposits. He then worked as a Research Associate developing novel techniques for processing contaminated North Sea oil drill cuttings using SEM to determine the micro-structure of varying feed stocks.

Whilst at Fine Tubes, use of SEM technology has been primarily for assisting in root cause analysis, assessing properties of raw materials and as part of studies into developing new production techniques. It is hoped that future use of SEM will allow Fine Tubes to enhance production efficiency and generate new lines for production.

To register for next Thursday's breakfast, please go to:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/EMC_workshop_3rdApril

Or feel free to contact Claire Pearce for more details about the event, the free support we can offer to eligible businesses and the EMC in general:
- 01752 588908
- 07738 858494
- claire.pearce@plymouth.ac.uk

Thursday 13 March 2014

Boost Your Bottom Line - Industrial Solutions Breakfast - Thursday 3 April 2014



Due to popular demand following our January breakfast, we are pleased to confirm the speakers for our third free Industrial Solutions Breakfast, aimed particularly at manufacturers, precision and electrical engineers, on Thursday 3 April at Plymouth University, part-funded by ERDF - to demonstrate the relevance of electron microscopy to industry.

- Gary Hughes, The Barden Corporation (UK) Ltd
- Abdul Saeid, Fine Tubes Ltd

Starting at 08.00 with breakfast and networking, Gary and Abdul will talk about how using electron microscopy in their respective companies has aided the bottom line; giving practical examples of how this technology can help to solve real issues that they face, from quality control through to new product development, using high-magnification images and in-depth materials analysis, to name but two approaches.

Delegates will then have the opportunity to look around the University's facilities, including the Electron Microscopy Centre (EMC) and find out how they can use this for free during 2014, if they are an eligible SME.


If you're new to the EMC, you're also welcome to bring along a sample for analysis - just tick the relevant box when you register for the event:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/EMC_workshop_3rdApril

Or feel free to contact Claire Pearce for more details about the event, the free support we can offer to eligible businesses or the EMC in general:
- 01752 588908
- 07738 858494
- claire.pearce@plymouth.ac.uk