Lin Li’s research has been honoured for its impact on the economy
16 Jul 2013 A University of Manchester laser expert will this week receive one of the Royal Academy of Engineering's highest accolades - the Sir Frank Whittle medal - for his outstanding and sustained research achievements for engineering innovations in manufacturing that have directly benefitted the UK economy. Professor Lin Li, from the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, will receive the medal at the Academy's annual Awards Dinner on tomorrow evening (Wednesday) at London's Battersea Power Station, where special guests include HRH The Princess Royal and Chancellor George Osborne. Professor Li, Head of the University's Manufacturing Research Group and Director of the Laser Processing Research Centre, pioneered the development of laser and materials processing technologies for manufacturing in several industrial sectors. Collaborating with Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems, Professor Li's team has developed a laser cleaning technique that has been deployed in the aerospace industry to replace conventional chemical cleaning for a range of component manufacture processes resulting in reduced scrap rates and environmental impacts. Working with BNFL, he, with his colleagues, invented a technique called 'laser scabbling', which is now being commercialised for nuclear power plant decommissioning. A laser is used to separate highly contaminated surface concrete in a nuclear installation from the bulk concrete structure, so that the remaining bulk concrete can be treated as low-level nuclear waste, dramatically reducing the decontamination process and cost.
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