Edward McCarthy

Dr. Edward McCarthy is Lecturer in Composites Design and Testing at the School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh. His main composites experience is in impact-damage evaluation in laminated aerospace composites (at University of Manchester with Airbus UK, Spirit Aerosystems and National Composite Centre, ‘InnovateUK/ATI Wings of the Future Project 2014-2016)). At Edinburgh, he has been Principal Investigator of projects: 1. CAMREG TideFlex, focussing on the design of passively morphing trailing edges for tidal turbine blades to minimise operational energy loss; and 2. OGIC CompClamp on novel composite clamp design for oil riser components. He recently worked on oil seal processing and development for engineering contractors in Ecuador and currently supervises two industrial PhD studentships in the marine composites sector. He is interested in all aspects of composite testing, particularly in micromechanics, with a special focus on fibre fragmentation problems under uniaxial loading. Having a chemical engineering background, he also has experience with polymerisation and polymer characterisation, including reactive injection moulding of thermoplastic composites featuring in-situ ring opening polymerisation as a cost-effective alternative to full-viscosity thermoplastic processing. The synthesis of polymer complexes for osteoblast bone grafts is also an area of interest. He has also worked industrially in commercial elastomer formulation and characterisation at Perlast Ltd, Blackburn, UK, (2007-2009) and in gas plant process design at Costain Ltd., Manchester, UK (1998-1999).