AMRICC opening cements Staffs role as UK materials science centre
26 Feb 2024
Staffordshire has sealed its centuries-old reputation as the UK’s ceramics capital with the official opening of the £10 million open-access AMRICC Centre.
A key part of the Midlands’ drive to play a dominant role in the multi-billion pound global advanced ceramics sector, the project is the culmination of a four year research programme.
Midlands Industrial Ceramics Group’s (MICG) £18 million-plus project received government funding from the UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) Strength in Places Fund in 2021.
AMRICC CEO Dr Cathryn Hickey said at the launch held in the Stoke-on-Trent based site: “Forecasts for the value of advanced ceramics industry in 2023 were £143 billion, and The AMRICC Centre places the Midlands region, an area long associated with ceramics, in a strong position to play a key role in this highly-valued sector.”
Management describe the site as a “world first”, pioneering open-access with industry, aiming to enable product and process development to be carried out “at an industrially relevant scale”.
The centre features an equipment suite stocked with more than 350 pieces of sophisticated high-value technologysuitable for extreme conditions. These include densification with hot or cold isostatic pressure, plus sintering (forming a mass of material via pressure and heat without causing liquefaction) up to 3000 degrees or in atmospheres such as argon.
Its capabilities range from powder processing, forming, sintering, and testing, and users have the opportunity to access scientists, engineers, data scientists, and computational modellers.
Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the UK Ceramics Industry and Stoke-on-Trent Central MP Jo Gideon MP, who officially opened the centre, said:
“Advanced ceramics offer many opportunities for UK plc, and The AMRICC Centre is a brilliant addition for the sector. It is a world-beating facility for research and development and I am proud that it is in Staffordshire.”
Overall financial sponsor of the centre is the independent materials development and testing company Lucideon. A founding partner of the MICG, it developed out of the post-war British Ceramic Research Association before becoming a company in 1985. In addition to investing substantial money in the project, it has also provided access to industry expertise.
Photo: Jo Gideon MP with degree apprentice Connor Ayre at The AMRICC Centre
