Professor David Lee Butler PhD, MSc (Eng), BEng(Hons)

Department of Mechanical Engineering
MTC Chair in Sustainable Manufacturing

Contact details

Email: d.l.butler@bham.ac.uk

Address: School of Engineering
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

I’m currently the MTC Chair in Sustainable Manufacturing and lead the Sustainable Manufacturing Group. In a nutshell there is no second planet so we need to rethink how we make products and how we sell them. The MTC or, in full, The Manufacturing Technology Centre is a 700 strong organisation focusing on translational research. Sustainable manufacturing covers a plethora of activities including, materials extraction, processing, life cycle assessment, digitalisation, additive manufacturing, automation, robotics, and clean energy.

After finishing my education at Birmingham, I spent 18 years in Singapore as an academic and co-founder of the Advanced Remanufacturing & Technology Centre. I also had the opportunity to engage in my passion for STEM and worked closely with the Singapore Science Centre on a number of exhibitions and competitions including the National Science Challenge- a televised competition which I was a Judge for 12 years. Returning to the UK I joined the University of Strathclyde as a joint appointee with the National Physical Laboratory where I was the Science Lead for Additive Manufacturing. The past few years have focused on activities around the end-of-life strategies for commercial aircraft and wind turbines helping to develop both solutions and develop supply chains.

Qualifications

PgDip Teaching in Higher Education, National Institute of Education, Singapore, 2001
PhD In Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham, 2000
MSc(Eng) in Integrated Quality Systems, University of Birmingham, 1992
BEng(Hons) in Manufacturing Engineering & Economics, University of Birmingham, 1992

Biography

Prior to re-joining Birmingham in September 2023, I spent the previous 6 years in the University of Strathclyde where I led a team of 16 PhD students and 12 Research staff on a variety of projects including end-of-life extension of wind turbines, supporting companies on their net zero journey, aircraft decommissioning, developing visualisation solutions. In total over £ 4 million in funding was secured. During my time in Strathclyde I held a number of joint appointments with the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) where I was the Science Lead for Additive Manufacturing.

From 1999 to 2018, I was an Associate Professor at the Nanyang Technological University. In 2011, I was tasked with establishing the Advanced Remanufacturing & Technology Centre (ARTC) which has now grown to over 250 staff. In Singapore I supervised 8 PhD students, over 50 Masters dissertations and approximately 160 final year projects. Apart from academic activities I was involved in establishing and advising the TEDxNTU Conference which attracted over 1600 participants at its most recent event. From 2003 to 2015 I was the Chief Judge on the televised National Science Challenge - a competition aimed at 15-year olds to encourage their interest in STEM.

Postgraduate supervision

Research interests

Sustainable manufacturing, life cycle assessment, remanufacturing, surface engineering, circular economy business models,

Current projects

The establishment of consortium for the end-of-life of wind turbines.

Other activities

Founding team member of TEDxNTU in 2011. It has successfully run an event annually garnering up to 1800 attendees.
UK representative – International Committee on Abrasive Technology
UK Member -I EC PT61400-24-2 working group on establishing an end-of-life strategy for wind turbines.
External Examiner – Sports Technology degrees, Loughborough University

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Preedakorn, K, Butler, D & Mehnen, J 2023, 'Challenges for the adoption of electric vehicles in Thailand: potential impacts, barriers, and public policy', Sustainability, vol. 15, no. 12, 9470. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129470

Khun, NW, Trung, PQ, Yeetan, AW, Sun, W, Liu, E & Butler, DL 2023, 'Effects of Shot Peening Pressure on Friction and Wear of High Pressure Cold Sprayed Ti-6Al-4V Coatings Under Dry and Lubrication Conditions', Tribology in Industry, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 472-486. https://doi.org/10.24874/ti.1466.03.23.05

Khun, NW, Trung, PQ & Butler, DL 2021, 'Study on hardness and wear resistance of shot peened AA7075-T6 aluminum alloy', Engineering Research Express, vol. 3, no. 1, 015031. https://doi.org/10.1088/2631-8695/abea0a

Fu, S, Cheng, F, Tjahjowidodo, T, Zhou, Y & Butler, D 2018, 'A non-contact measuring system for in-situ surface characterization based on laser confocal microscopy', Sensors (Switzerland), vol. 18, no. 8, 2657. https://doi.org/10.3390/s18082657

Kum, CW, Sato, T, Guo, J, Liu, K & Butler, D 2018, 'A novel media properties-based material removal rate model for magnetic field-assisted finishing', International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, vol. 141, pp. 189-197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2018.04.006

Trung, PQ, Butler, DL & Idapalapati, S 2018, 'A numerical and experimental study of distribution of the residual stress on the shot peened low alloy steel', Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology, Transactions of the ASME, vol. 140, no. 4, 041006. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4040004

Trung, PQ, Khun, NW & Butler, DL 2018, 'Effect of Shot Peening Process on the Fatigue Life of Shot Peened Low Alloy Steel', Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology, Transactions of the ASME, vol. 140, no. 1, 011013. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4037525

Trung, PQ, Butler, DL & Khun, NW 2017, 'An investigation of the properties of conventional and severe shot peened low alloy steel', Materials Research Express, vol. 4, no. 7, 076501. https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1591/aa6b22

Pham, TQ, Khun, NW & Butler, DL 2017, 'New approach to estimate coverage parameter in 3D FEM shot peening simulation', Surface Engineering, vol. 33, no. 9, pp. 687-695. https://doi.org/10.1080/02670844.2016.1274536

Chapter

Klahn, C, Butler, D & Pei, E 2023, Economics of Additive Manufacturing. in E Pei, A Bernard, D Gu, C Klahn, M Monzón, M Petersen & T Sun (eds), Springer Handbook of Additive Manufacturing. 1 edn, Springer Handbooks, Springer, pp. 31-42. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20752-5_2

Butler, D & Smith, J 2023, Post-processing for Additive Manufactured Metal Parts: A Brief Introduction. in E Pei, A Bernard, D Gu, C Klahn, M Monzón, M Petersen & T Sun (eds), Springer Handbook of Additive Manufacturing. 1 edn, Springer Handbooks, Springer, pp. 821-832. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20752-5_48

Butler, D & Woolliams, P 2020, Standards in additive manufacturing. in Precision Metal Additive Manufacturing. pp. 133-156.

Conference contribution

Crocco, B, Imbrogno, S, Tamimi, S, Attallah, M & Butler, D 2021, Optimization of Selective Laser Melting process for zirconium lattices as orthopaedic implants. in Euro PM2021 Congress Proceedings. Euro PM Proceedings, European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA), 2021 European Powder Metallurgy Congress and Exhibition, Euro PM 2021, Virtual, Online, 18/10/21. <https://www.epma.com/publications/euro-pm-proceedings/product/euro-pm2021-proceedings>

Fu, S, Cheng, F & Butler, DL 2017, Surface roughness study on mirror finish surface products using patterned area illumination method. in D Phillips & D Billington (eds), Proceedings of the 17th International Conference of the European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology, EUSPEN 2017. Proceedings of the 17th International Conference of the European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology, EUSPEN 2017, euspen, pp. 395-396, 17th International Conference of the European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology, EUSPEN 2017, Hannover, Germany, 29/05/17.

Review article

Paterson, L, Miscandlon, J & Butler, D 2024, 'The Juxtaposition of Our Future Electrification Solutions: A View into the Unsustainable Life Cycle of the Permanent Magnet Electrical Machine', Sustainability, vol. 16, no. 7, 2681. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16072681

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