Outside Looking In

When it comes to precise scientific measurement, Surface Science Section Leader Dr Ian Fletcher and his team have the very best equipment in the world.

“Running equipment like this isn't cheap, but the benefits it can bring to our customers can be outrageous” says Ian Fletcher.

He's talking about the surface imaging system known as SSIMS (Static Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry, for the initiated) - quite simply, a machine that allows molecular identification of both organic and inorganic materials at surfaces. And while the analysis depth of other MSG techniques can be likened to atwo-storey house, he describes himself as using SSIMS to look at the rooftiles.

“Very often it's the surface that delivers the benefit or special feature of a product, so that's where we need to look, and this equipment is the very best in the world for doing just that” he adds.

At a cost of around a million pounds for the equipment, this is certainly not an area that's cheap, but the benefits can be enormous.

Take the case of the well-known pharmaceutical manufacturer whose patent was threatened by a rival company. Work from Ian's MSG team both to analyse the drug and compare it to its generic rival was essential to the successful result of the consequential patent litigation.

More mundane problems include- regularly - cases of silicone-based lubricants that can stop production lines, leading to often expensive disputes between suppliers and customers.

“It's often the small things that go wrong - and often the effects can be quite catastrophic ” says Ian (pictured right). “Microscopic blobs of silicone lubricant in the wrong place can give problems with carbon fibre, and that can halt a cruise missile before it has even left the production line - as some of our defence clients have found.”

Ian can't talk about the War, of course - “but we do have an increase in military work at the moment, just as we did following the last Gulf War in the early nineties” he added.