Researchers from IfM Fluids in Advanced Manufacturing Group have created a miniature winter scene for this year's IfM Christmas Card. The scene has been created using lasers and inkjet printing and the trees are no bigger than 10mm high. 

Friction is immensely important to us – without it, for example, we could not walk or even crawl – yet it is only 50 years since a special word –  ‘tribology’ – was first coined to describe its study.

Understanding fluids and their behaviour is key to developing new manufacturing processes and a wide range of applications. Professor Ian Hutchings, Head of the Inkjet Research Centre, and Dr Ronan Daly, Head of the Fluids in Advanced Manufacturing Group, explain how the IfM’s research in this area has evolved over the last ten years – and where they see it heading.

From wind farms to data storage, from deodorants to floor tiles, tribology is involved in many aspects of modern life – yet most people have never heard of the word, let alone know what it means.

Dr Simon Ford, from IfM’s Centre for Technology Management, explains why we need to take a clear-eyed view of this much hyped technology if it is to realise its potential.

A way of printing lasers using everyday inkjet technology has been created by scientists. The development has a wide range of possible applications, ranging from biomedical testing to laser arrays for displays.

The IfM's Inkjet Research Centre is a partner in the KACST-Cambridge Research Centre, studying the application of inkjet technology in additive manufacturing.

Scientists at the IfM have developed a method for predicting whether a filament of fluid will condense along its length into a single droplet, or collapse into multiple droplets.

Professor Ian Hutchings, GKN Professor of Manufacturing Engineering at the IfM, gave the Staudinger-Durrer lecture at the ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich) where he was awarded the Staudinger-Durrer Prize and Medal.

IfM research associate Dr Steve Hoath from the Production Processes Group has won the Epson Photography Competition.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has awarded a new research grant of just under £2m to a major university/industry collaboration in the ink jet sector.