Dr Heather Almond

Research Fellow
Location: Building 88, Cranfield campus
E: h.j.a.almond@cranfield.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1234 750111 x2020
Materials

Current activities

Dr Heather Almond is currently investigating the use of pulsed and pulsed reverse electrolytic machining in the etching of “difficult to etch” metals and alloys. These include a wide variety of superalloys and other highly corrosion resistant metals. She is also involved in several photochemical machining related projects to create small features in metal components.

Clients

Current clients/funding sources include:

Chemart, USA
Chemical Machining SPA, Italy
CMT Rickenbach SA, Switzerland
Datum Alloys, UK
Etchform, Netherlands
Hamilton Precision Metals, USA
Heatric, UK
HP Etch AB, Sweden
KEMAC, USA
Kem-Mil Company, USA
Newcut Inc, USA
Northwest Etch, USA
Precision Micro, UK
Stork Veco, Netherlands
Tecan Components Ltd, UK
6^th Framework Programme, Aeronautics and Space, Contract No: 502844 Development of Advanced Actuation concepts to Provide a Step Change in Technology Used in Future Aero-Engine Control Systems (ADVACT), Work package 4 – Shape memory alloys for gas turbine applications.

Previous clients/funding sources include:

Brite Euram III Craft “Rapid, High Accuracy casting Technology Technology for Long Life Injection Mould Tooling”
Adenco NV, Belgium
Eastern Reproduction Corp., USA
Hirai Seimitsu Corp, Japan
Metaq GmbH, Germany
Microphoto Inc., USA
Photofabrication Engineering Inc., USA
Phibro-Tech Inc, USA
Fotofabrication Corp, USA
Gravage Berreux, Sw
Velocys, USA.

Background

Dr Heather Almond’s experience is mainly in the area of manufacturing techniques and advanced processes in general. She gained her MSc and PhD in Advanced Manufacturing Techniques at Cranfield University in 1988 and 1996 respectively, specialising in aspects of Photochemical Machining.

Her industrial experience includes working for the Atomic Energy Authority as a scientific assistant for a year and as a Development Engineer in the manufacture of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance super-conducting magnets for imaging equipment for two years.

Her post-doctorate research experience, includes: two years in Rapid Prototyping at Nottingham University and 12 years at Cranfield University with micro-electrodischarge machining, photochemical machining, electrolytic etching and various micro-engineering projects.

Selected publications

D.M. Allen & H.J.A White, Chlorine regeneration of ferric chloride solutions used for the photochemical machining of iron, Processing of Advanced Materials, 2, 1992, p19-24.
D.M. Allen and H.J.A. White, Nickel etching economics, Journal of Photochemical Machining Institute, No. 15, Fall 1992, p4-11.
D.M. Allen and H.J.A White, Etchant regeneration, Patent Application No. 9419054, Lodged 20^th September 1994, Cranfield University and BTG Ltd.
D.M. Allen and H.J.A White, Nickel extraction from ferric chloride etchant, Journal of Photochemical Machining Institute, Summer/Fall 1994.
H Almond, Investment casting tooling project, European Action on Rapid Prototyping, no.9 August 1996, pp1-7.
Heather Almond, Sara Steel, Philip M Dickens and Catherine Wykes, The accuracy of RP models for investment casting of injection mould tool inserts, Rapid Tooling and Manufacturing conference, Danish Technological Institute, Arhus, Denmark, 12-13 November 1997.
Heather Almond, Jagmohan Bhogal and David M Allen, A positional accuracy study of a micro-EDM machine, Proceedings of SPIE (The International Society for Optical Engineers), Design, Test and Microfabrication of MEMS and MOEMS, 30 March – 1 April 1999, Paris, Vol 3680, part II, p1113-1124.
Heather Almond and David M Allen, Influence of materials selection & quality on ink jet nozzles fabricated by micro-electrodischarge machining, Proceedings of SPIE, Design, Test, Integration and Packaging of MEMS and MOEMS, Vol 4019, 9-11 May 2000, Paris France, p446-455.
David Allen and Heather Almond, A technical comparison of micro-electrodischarge machining, microdrilling and copper vapour laser machining for the fabrication of ink jet nozzles, Proceedings of SPIE, Design, Test, Integration and Packaging of MEMS and MOEMS Vol 4019, 9-11 May 2000, Paris France, p531-540.
D.M. Allen, H J A Almond, J S Bhogal, A E Green, P M Logan & X X Huang, Typical metrology of micro-hole arrays made in stainless steel foils by two stage micro-EDM, Annals of CIRP, Vol 48/1/1991, p127-130.
Heather Almond, David Allen and Peter Logan, Examination of the internal profiles of micro-electrodischarge machined holes and the detection of material defects, International Journal of Electrical Machining, No. 5, Jan 2000, p29-34.
Heather Almond, Rapid prototyping – stereolithography to microstereolithography, Microsystems and Nanotechnology, Euspen Vision Online training course preview CD (audio presentation), Euspen Ltd 2003.
D M Allen, H J A Almond, Characterisation of aqueous ferric chloride etchants used in industrial photochemical machining, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 149 (1-3), 10 June 2004, p238-245.
D.M. Allen, H.J.A. Almond and D.Boubal, Testing of a LIGA-microspectrometer for monitoring dissolved nickel concentration when etching nickel and its alloys in aqueous ferric chloride solutions, Proceedings of 5^th Symposium on Design, Test, Integration and Packaging of MEMS/MOEMS, May 2003, pp251-254.
D.M. Allen, H.J.A. Almond, F.Gaben, S. Impey, A. Abel The causes and prevention of smut on etched AISI300 stainless steels, Annals of the CIRP, Vol 54/1, 2005, pp187-190.
David M. Allen, Heather J.A.Almond, Nick Hollinshead and G.Kayode Ake, Comparisons of various physical characteristics of electroformed nickels and nickel cobalt alloys as an aid for the selection of micro-mould insert materials, Proceedings of DTIP of MEMS & MOEMS, Montreux, Switzerland, 1-3 June 2005, ISBN: 2-84813-0357-1, pp360-362.