Materials
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Metalysis is expanding UK production of critical refractory alloy powders. C-103 capacity is targeted at 15 tonnes annually from 2027 as the South Yorkshire manufacturer builds domestic processing capability for aerospace, defence, space, and electronics supply chains.
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Nucor will invest $59m to expand Indiana steel manufacturing capacity. The Vulcraft site will add steel grating production and 20 jobs, extending a downstream fabrication business serving construction and industrial markets.
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New EU vehicle rules establish mandatory recycled plastic content targets. The regulation also tightens design, dismantling, traceability, producer responsibility, and material recovery requirements across the automotive lifecycle.
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Lucideon has proposed a £500m UK ceramic composites manufacturing programme. The seven-to-ten-year plan centres on Staffordshire, but still requires private investment and more than £200m of government funding before reaching its proposed scale.
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MatAlytics has secured funding to apply physics AI in steel. The £619,000 Innovate UK award will move its CITRUS platform towards industrial validation in energy-intensive reheating and material modelling.
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Vale and ABB will expand industrial AI across Brazilian mines. Their model plant has already reported higher productivity, premium ore output, and reduced iron losses.
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Sweden has rejected two appeals against Boliden’s Laver mining concession. The proposed copper development can now progress towards environmental permitting before any investment decision.
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Stora Enso plans to centralise northern Finnish pine sawmilling operations. Veitsiluoto could close permanently as newer capacity at Oulu continues to ramp.
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New EU packaging rules now apply across the single market. Immediate PFAS restrictions begin a longer programme covering labelling, reuse, recyclability, recycled content, and packaging reduction.
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Liverpool has secured €4.4m for advanced materials researcher training programmes. The five-year Horizon Europe initiative will combine materials science with automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, data science, and industrial processing.
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