James Maguire
School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering
Lecturer in Composites
Full contact details
School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering
Office D06
Royal Exchange Building
64 Garden Street
Sheffield
S1 4BJ
- Profile
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I investigate how we can build the world around us in a more sustainable way using new materials and manufacturing processes.
James Maguire
Lecturer in Composites
I grew up on the border of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, in County Monaghan - famous for poets, boxers, and poultry. In 2012, I graduated with a BEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Galway (f.k.a. NUI Galway), as well as a Diploma in Spanish — ¡Olé! In 2019, I graduated with a PhD in Materials and Processes from the University of Edinburgh. My thesis was titled, "Processing of Thick Section Epoxy Powder Composite Structures". Primarily, the thick sections I was interested in were those found in wind and tidal turbine blades, e.g., the root of the blade and spar caps. During this time, I collaborated with industry and academia, including research visits to Suzlon Energy Ltd. in the Netherlands and the University of Delaware and Purdue University in the US.
Since graduating, I have worked as a postdoctoral research associate on several projects at the University of Edinburgh, such as:- Structural testing of wind turbine blades
- Fibre-metal laminates for marine renewable energy applications
- Fire testing of carbon-fibre/acrylic composites for aerospace applications
During this time, I also took out two years to work part-time as a carer, walk the border of NI/RoI, and figure out how to have a sustainable career in academia.
I have been involved in teaching courses on materials and mechanical engineering at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, including Advance Composite Materials, and Vibrations and Control Systems. I have also co-supervised students at BEng, MEng, MSc, and PhD level - all graduated successfully and we even picked up a few awards along the way!
Recently, I've been doing more to try and spread any impact I can have, including organising outreach workshops on marine plastic waste for IntoUniversity and developing search tools for sustainability resources.
- Research interests
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The overarching aim of my work is to help build a more sustainable future for our world. Currently, my focus is on improving the sustainability of the composite materials and manufacturing processes for a broad range of applications across renewable energy, automotive, aerospace, construction, and agriculture. To achieve this, I will combine lab experiments and advanced simulations to gain a fundamental understanding of the new technologies we develop, and then optimise them for translation into real-world impact.
My current research interests include:
- Sustainable composite material development
- High-efficiency manufacturing of sustainable composite materials
- Reuse and recycling of composite materials
- Characterisation and testing related to the above
- Process simulation and experimental validation related to the above
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Impregnation behaviour during the production of powder epoxy towpregs. Composites Part B: Engineering, 292, 112065-112065.
- Passively morphing trailing edge design for composite tidal turbine blades. Composite Structures, 337, 118090-118090.
- Hygroscopicity in epoxy powder composites. Powders, 3(2), 168-189. View this article in WRRO
- Vacuum-infused thermoplastic fibre-metal laminates – Advances in bonding and recycling. Materials Today Communications, 37, 106961-106961.
- Numerical and experimental investigation of Joule heating in a carbon fibre powder epoxy towpregging line. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 164. View this article in WRRO
- Contact resistance heating of unidirectional carbon fibre tows in a powder-epoxy towpregging line. Plastics, Rubber and Composites, 51(8), 383-392. View this article in WRRO
- Advanced process simulations for thick-section epoxy powder composite structures. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 161. View this article in WRRO
- Manufacture of High-Performance Tidal Turbine Blades Using Advanced Composite Manufacturing Technologies. Applied Composite Materials, 28(6), 2061-2086.
- Wind blade demonstrator: testing of 6m hybrid glass/carbon fibre powder epoxy composite wind blade demonstrator. SAMPE Journal, 57(3), 6-14. View this article in WRRO
- A novel powder-epoxy towpregging line for wind and tidal turbine blades. Composites Part B: Engineering, 203. View this article in WRRO
- Novel epoxy powder for manufacturing thick-section composite parts under vacuum-bag-only conditions. Part I: Through-thickness process modelling. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 136. View this article in WRRO
- Novel epoxy powder for manufacturing thick-section composite parts under vacuum-bag-only conditions. Part II: Experimental validation and process investigations. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 136. View this article in WRRO
- Characterisation of epoxy powders for processing thick-section composite structures. Materials & Design, 139, 112-121. View this article in WRRO
- Adaptive Manufacturing for Healthcare During the COVID-19 Emergency and Beyond. Frontiers in Medical Technology, 3.
Conference proceedings papers
- Resin characterisation for numerical modelling of through-thickness resin flow during ooa processing of thick-section wind or tidal turbine blades. ICCM International Conferences on Composite Materials, Vol. 2015-July
Preprints
- Impregnation behaviour during the production of powder epoxy towpregs. Composites Part B: Engineering, 292, 112065-112065.
- Teaching interests
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- 2nd semester of GEE208 Mechanics of Structures alongside Dr. Hatice Sas.
- MEng final year project supervision
- MSc project supervision
- Academic tutor for 1st year BEng/MEng students and MSc students