2007 2006 2004 2003
2002 2001
02/12/05 - Intertek appointed to undertake research to evaluate options for a commercial synchrotron analysis service at CCLRC Daresbury Laboratory
04/10/05 - DARTS and CLS shining across
the Atlantic
27/09/05 - High-Throughput X-ray Powder Diffraction
02/09/05 - e-HTPX: e-Science Resource for High Throughput
Protein Crystallography
01/09/05 - DARTS helps solve
industrial problems
01/06/05 - DARTS connects crystal
structure to product performance
01/04/05 - DARTS joins
Knowledge Northwest
23/02/05 - Non-Destructive Residual Stress Mapping Technique
from DARTS
Come and join our DARTS staff
at events in 2005
02/12/05 - Intertek appointed to undertake research to evaluate options for a commercial synchrotron analysis service at CCLRC Daresbury Laboratory
Intertek Caleb Brett has been appointed by CCLRC Daresbury Laboratory to conduct market research and to evaluate all options for establishing a sustainable synchrotron radiation service for industry. Under details recently announced by CCLRC, the use of the Daresbury Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS) by UK academia is planned for phased reduction completing at the end of 2008 and this creates an opportunity for the capacity released to be made more available for commercial use.
The SRS at Daresbury, UK is a world class facility dedicated to the application of synchrotron radiation for analytical science, fundamental and applied research. It offers a large mix of analytical techniques covering protein crystallography, small molecule and powder diffraction, circular dichroism, infra-red spectroscopy, scattering, photoemission and imaging. The SRS provides radiation at a range of wavelengths extending from the infra-red to hard X-rays. The tunable, high intensity properties of this source allow flexible and rapid data collection from small samples of all types and forms ranging from direct analysis of failed engine parts to the most complex of bio-molecules.
Daresbury SRS has an established customer base with users operating across a variety of scientific disciplines and important industrial problem solving research covering pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, chemistry, aerospace and defence, biology and biomaterials, consumer goods, electronics, materials, and oil and gas. Although the majority of users of the SRS are currently from academia, industrial access is provided through the Daresbury Analytical Research and Technology Service (DARTS). The major focus of the market research with Intertek is to evaluate the commercial market demand and the preferred supply models for dedicated, analytical services to industry from its SRS facilities.
Intertek will take a fresh and comprehensive approach to the research to identify new potential industrial users who can benefit from this analytical technology combined with the years of background knowledge for industrial problem solving work which has been uniquely developed at Daresbury. Amongst other tasks, Intertek will select and interview a cross section of a target user base categorised by factors including location, industry sector and technology. As part of this research, potential customers are encouraged to provide feedback via the following email address: SynchrotronEnquiries@intertek.com.
About Intertek Group Plc.
Intertek is a leading testing, inspection, outsourcing and certification organisation, assessing customers' products and commodities against a wide range of quality, safety, regulatory, and performance standards, and certifies the management systems of customers. Intertek operates 300 laboratories and employs 14,500 people around the world. www.intertek.com
Intertek’s Caleb Brett division operates a global network of over 210
laboratories serving clients located in 118 nations. Analytical services include
laboratory testing in research and QC/QA environments, laboratory performance
benchmarking studies and associated consultancy for market research and operational
modeling. Intertek Caleb Brett’s testing expertise supports a wide range
of materials, products and applications. Other services include inspection,
certification, pilot plant processes, calibration and other activities supporting
global industry. www.intertek-cb.com
04/10/05 - DARTS and CLS shining across the Atlantic
The Canadian Light Source (CLS) is moving closer to full operations with its industrial science programme making significant growth in several areas, particularly environmental and material sciences. CLS's industrial community has continued to grow as a result of obtaining beamtime at various synchrotrons, including the Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS) at Daresbury Laboratory.
DARTS has been able to provide the CLS with the opportunity to purchase beamtime access for several industrial clients, often at very short notice. A recent example includes a request for access on Station 16.5, the ultra-dilute spectroscopy beamtime, to characterise tin passivation coatings on steel for the food industry.
Although travelling from Saskatoon in the province of Saskatchewan, to Daresbury for a few hours of beamtime may take its toll on the Canadian scientists, the rapid access mode and scientific facilities offered by DARTS has been invaluable in helping the CLS to grow its industrial fee-for-service programme.
27/09/05 - High-Throughput X-ray Powder Diffraction
Following discussions with STOE, Darmstadt 's prestige designer of scientific instruments, DARTS commissioned a bespoke automatic sample changer for use on the high flux powder diffraction station 9.1. Customers working in speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals will particularly benefit from the high throughput for phase or polymorph identification, structure analysis and combinatorial chemistry studies, where the high intensity of synchrotron radiation is essential.
The sample changer has been developed for automated measurements of up to 10 samples loaded in capillaries. Using the sample changer couldn't be easier and there is no special training required. The thin-walled glass capillaries are inserted into the guide bushes, eliminating alignment of the goniometer head. Height adjustment to optimise the amount of sample material in the beam is made at the outset and subsequent translations ensure each sample is aligned correctly. The maximum scan range is 0-90° in 2Θ.
DARTS customers using the automatic sample changer will immediately benefit from increased efficiency. Running continuous measurements on a large number of samples, possibly overnight, will eliminate long working hours by those who are working to tight deadlines. The 10 samples can be loaded at the beginning of the day and results collected 24 hours later! For those customers who prefer to send in their samples for analysis and benefit from savings in manpower and travel, DARTS staff are, of course, available to carry out the work on their behalf.
The automatic sample changer will be available to DARTS customers at the end of 2005. If you have any enquiries regarding technical specifications or indeed, use of the automatic sample chamber, please contact darts@dl.ac.uk
02/09/05 - e-HTPX: e-Science Resource for High-Throughput Protein Crystallography
DARTS is preparing to offer yet another service to science and industry, namely e-HTPX; an e-science resource for high-throughput protein crystallography.
e-HTPX will provide an automated procedure for protein structure determination using X-ray crystallography in a high throughput mode. In addition, e-HTPX will provide access to instruments, databases and low-cost, high quality parallel computing.
As any user knows, there are several major time-consuming steps involved in a protein crystallography project:
e-HTPX aims to revolutionise this process by offering a single interface from which users can initiate, plan, direct and document their experiment either locally or remotely from a desktop computer.
Immediate benefits of the service include:
Security, confidentiality and reliability of data lie at the heart of the e-HTPX project. For further background and technical information please access the e-HTPX website
DARTS will be looking to provide commercial use of e-HTPX during the middle part of 2006, and will be offering e-HTPX on a trial basis towards the end of 2005. Any user who wishes to take part in trials of the project, please contact the e-HTPX Industrial Liaison Coordinator
01/09/05 - DARTS helps solve industrial problems
With support from the Victorian Government's new Industry Synchrotron Access (ISA), Cetec, a risk management consulting group, contacted DARTS in order to help solve a manufacturing problem for MtM Pty Ltd, an Australian car exporter.
Cetec and Mtm Pty Ltd had already used conventional analyses to determine that the problem lay in the bonding mechanism between the bright-metal-on-plastic (BMOP) components. Results suggested that the bonding process could be improved by modifying several stages of the process, but the distribution of metals and other elements below one part per million could not be determined without the use of a synchrotron radiation source.
Using high-intensity x-ray fluorescence, accessed through DARTS at Daresbury's Synchrotron Radiation Source, scientists were able to examine the BMOP components in more detail. Results confirmed that the weak adhesion was associated with low levels and uneven distribution of particular metal atoms; a vital link in understanding the way in which chemical treatments affected the final product.
Australia's BMOP components are worth about $20 million a year which means that discarded automotive components cost money! This example clearly illustrates how DARTS can help solve industrial problems, increase productivity as well as ensuring exacting quality standards.
For further details please access the case study which is available at the Australian Synchrotron website
01/06/05 - DARTS connects crystal structure to product performance
The appearance of different crystal structures (also known as polymorphs) in a crystallising substance can be critical to its performance in use. During manufacture, process control factors such as pressure and rate of cooling determine the composition of polymorphs that will occur. The ability to look at the detailed crystal structures developing during the manufacturing process allows an understanding of how the presence or absence of a particular polymorph can alter the behaviour, appearance, texture and other characteristics of the finished product. The properties which different polymorphs confer are often the key to improved or diminished product performance in terms of efficacy, safety and bio-availability.
These properties are particularly important in drug development. Product function will change according to the composition of polymorphs within the formulation. Frequently there will be a predominance of one kind with only a small proportion of others which makes detecting and characterising them particularly difficult. High intensity X-ray diffraction is an essential tool and the facilities at Daresbury Laboratory, together with the expertise of the DARTS team, provide an efficient, reliable and cost effective means of revealing polymorph composition. The specialist facilities and service which DARTS provides are practical for large and small companies, both of which have benefited from using the service for such investigations.
Pharmaceutical companies seeking to protect the discovery of a new drug only have adequate protection for their product if their patent covers all of the relevant polymorphic forms. This is also required information in drug approval procedures. In cases of patent infringement DARTS has been instrumental in providing critical evidence that the polymorphic composition of a drug was being copied.
Not only is this technology being applied to understanding drug formulation, it has also been applied to the more commonplace case of improving the taste and texture of chocolate. The development of the desired polymorphic form of cocoa butter was shown to depend on a narrow set of process conditions. Once understood, these could then be reproduced to ensure optimum product characteristics making both the manufacturer and its consumers happy.
The DARTS service has proved to be essential to small bio-techs, critical to big pharma and useful to many manufacturers operating solidification processes.
01/04/2005 - DARTS joins Knowledge NorthWest
DARTS has been appointed to the range of institutions offering services through the problem solving brokerage for industry known as KnowledgeNorthWest. KnowledgeNorthWest is managed by the North West Universities Association representing all 15 higher education institutions in the North West.
23/02/05 - A Non-Destructive Residual Stress Mapping Technique from DARTS
The need of designers, manufacturers and maintenance engineers for non-destructive techniques to assess areas of structural weakness and potential failure in critical engineering components is being met by the DARTS team using the synchrotron at Daresbury Laboratory.
Synchrotron strain scanning has been developed into an advanced non-destructive engineering analysis tool using the high energy, high flux beams and large experimental area at the Daresbury synchrotron to characterise the strength and potential failure of structural components. Detailed two and three dimensional strain maps of entire engineering components are obtained faster, to greater depth and more accurately than possible by any other method.
In structural engineering materials such as metals, alloys and ceramics, internal
and external forces create strain fields which are responsible for the initiation
of defects which can lead to a reduction in the lifespan of the component. Traditional
methods of stress analysis require the test specimen to be cut, thereby introducing
the potential for stresses to be either relieved or added to. Conventional laboratory
X-ray diffraction methods do not penetrate the sample sufficiently and take
a long time to collect sufficient data.
The technique has been used to examine new friction stir welding methods and
finishing processes such as shot peening. The discovery that component shape
and dimensions exert a crucial influence on the residual stresses can be incorporated
into designs that mitigate against mechanical failure.
Employed predominantly by the aerospace industry to date, this accurate method of determining residual stress distributions with high precision has recently been used to benefit other engineering industries. A multinational automotive component manufacturer has used the technique to improve design and manufacture of pressurised fuel pipes. This powerful tool supports engineers from initial design through efficient maintenance to the assessment of projected lifespans for safety-critical component
Come and join our DARTS staff at events in 2005
Dr Chris Pickles will attend the Diamond Industry Day on 6th December in Oxfordshire.
At the invitation of The Manufacturing Institute and the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), Dr Chris Pickles will attend ManuFACTuring NW: a celebration of excellence on 14th November at the House of Commons.
Dr Graham Bushnell-Wye will attend the BCA Chemical Crystallography Group Autumn Meeting on 16th November at Daresbury Laboratory.
Dr Elizabeth MacLean and Dr Chris Pickles will attend the 50th Chemical Elements Meeting, Chemicals NW, on 10th November in Widnes.
Dr Elizabeth MacLean will attend the Polymorphism and Crystallisation Conference on 12th-13th October in the Lake District.
Dr Chris Pickles and Dr Günter Grossman will attend the Particulate Systems Analysis Conference on 21st-23rd September in Stratford-upon-Avon.
DARTS staff will attend and exhibit at the SR User Meeting on 13th-14th September in Manchester.
Professor John Helliwell will attend the XX Congress of the International Union of Crystallography, 23rd-31st August in Florence.
Dr Chris Pickles and Dr Graham Bushnell-Wye will attend ChemSpec 2005 on 22nd-23rd June in Dusseldorf.
Dr Chris Pickles will attend a Chemicals NorthWest Meeting, 'Nano Technology' on 14th April in Liverpool.
Dr Graham Bushnell-Wye will attend the BCA Spring Meeting on 14th April at Loughborough University.
Dr Chris Pickles will attend the Chemicals NorthWest Meeting, 'Innovation Opportunities' on 10th February at Daresbury Laboratory.
Dr Liz Towns-Andrews will give a presentation at The Australian Institute of Physics, 16th Biennial Congress, on 31st January in Canberra.