Current research

Richard (Yu) is currently a final-year Doctoral Researcher at the University of Cambridge, working across the groups of Prof Ronan Daly and Prof Abir Al-Tabbaa. His advisor is Prof Bill O’Neill. He joined the Fluids in Advanced Manufacturing (FIAM) group at the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) in 2020. He is dedicated to additive manufacturing for construction applications, aiming for print quality improvement by better harnessing the time-dependent rheological properties of cementitious materials and interfacial bonding strength improvement through various techniques.

Background

Richard holds a BSc in Civil Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), where he investigated the influence of steel slag powder on the properties of magnesium phosphate cement (MPC) and developed a sustainable and more cost-effective MPC with enhanced water resistance while maintaining its outstanding early-stage mechanical properties (see https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6172-1130 ). He was awarded the second prize of National Excellent Innovative Achievement of Civil Engineering Undergraduates as a result of this.

Since joining Cambridge in 2020, he has been invited to give oral presentations on his research at international conferences in the field of printing technology and additive manufacturing, including IOP PGS Printing for the Future and ASTM ICAM 2023. He continues to work with Prof Chen’s group at SJTU, which results in a couple of publications in world-class journals.

As an excellent early-stage researcher, he has been invited as a peer reviewer for world-class journals including Construction and Building Materials (impact factor: 7.693), Journal of Building Engineering (impact factor: 7.144) and Composite Part B: Engineering (impact factor: 11.322).

As a young professional with active industry engagement, he joined professional organisations as a committee member. He serves under American Society for Testing and Material (ASTM) Committee C01 for Cement, Committee D30 for Composite Materials, Committee F42 for Additive Manufacturing Technologies; British Standards Institution (BSI, UK National Committee) Committee AMT/8 for Additive manufacturing; and American Concrete Institute (ACI) Committee 564 for 3-D Printing with Cementitious Materials.

He is also a member of the Institute of Cambridge Philosophical Society, Engineering and Technology (IET), Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE).

Area of expertise

Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing)

Numerical Simulation

Rheology

Cementitious Materials