Arts University Bournemouth awarded £1.6m grant for centre to study plastic

The University hopes that the research will help museums to look after plastic products on display

A university has been awarded £1.6m from Research England to create a centre for studying plastic.

Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) has received the grant so it can explore how plastics degrade over time or behave in different environments.

The centre will work with experts at the AUB's Museum of Design in Plastics.

The university said it hoped the research would be relevant to international museum collections and manufacturers.

Dr Christian McLening, director of research and development, thinks it will help industry to develop better plastic products

Prof Paul Gough, the university's vice-chancellor, said: "This is a huge prize for the university and for all our environmental futures.

"The research emanating from this large grant will be of immediate relevance to global design and manufacturing industries."

3D printed plastic items are put inside climate control chambers to monitor how products deteriorate

Dr Christian McLening, director of research and development at the university said: "I think we've got two real key focuses for the project; one is helping industry develop better products using plastics, with more knowledge and insight into how products age over time.

"The second advantage is that we can start to learn to look after our heritage of plastic products, so that's in the museum sector as well."

The university puts 3D printed plastic items inside climate control chambers to monitor how products deteriorate in different environments and over time. It then recycles any item that it used for these tests.

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