James
Maguire

School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering

Lecturer in Composites

James Maguire
Profile picture of James Maguire
j.maguire@sheffield.ac.uk
Office D06, Royal Exchange Building

Full contact details

James Maguire
School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering

Office D06
Royal Exchange Building
64 Garden Street

Sheffield

S1 4BJ

Profile

I investigate how we can build the world around us in a more sustainable way using new materials and manufacturing processes.

James Maguire

Lecturer in Composites

I grew up on the border of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, in County Monaghan - famous for poets, boxers, and poultry. In 2012, I graduated with a BEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Galway (f.k.a. NUI Galway), as well as a Diploma in Spanish — ¡Olé! In 2019, I graduated with a PhD in Materials and Processes from the University of Edinburgh. My thesis was titled, "Processing of Thick Section Epoxy Powder Composite Structures". Primarily, the thick sections I was interested in were those found in wind and tidal turbine blades, e.g., the root of the blade and spar caps. During this time, I collaborated with industry and academia, including research visits to Suzlon Energy Ltd. in the Netherlands and the University of Delaware and Purdue University in the US.

Since graduating, I have worked as a postdoctoral research associate on several projects at the University of Edinburgh, such as:

  • Structural testing of wind turbine blades
  • Fibre-metal laminates for marine renewable energy applications
  • Fire testing of carbon-fibre/acrylic composites for aerospace applications

During this time, I also took out two years to work part-time as a carer, walk the border of NI/RoI, and figure out how to have a sustainable career in academia.

I have been involved in teaching courses on materials and mechanical engineering at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, including Advance Composite Materials, and Vibrations and Control Systems. I have also co-supervised students at BEng, MEng, MSc, and PhD level - all graduated successfully and we even picked up a few awards along the way!

Recently, I've been doing more to try and spread any impact I can have, including organising outreach workshops on marine plastic waste for IntoUniversity and developing search tools for sustainability resources.

Research interests

The overarching aim of my work is to help build a more sustainable future for our world. Currently, my focus is on improving the sustainability of the composite materials and manufacturing processes for a broad range of applications across renewable energy, automotive, aerospace, construction, and agriculture. To achieve this, I will combine lab experiments and advanced simulations to gain a fundamental understanding of the new technologies we develop, and then optimise them for translation into real-world impact.

My current research interests include:

  • Sustainable composite material development
  • High-efficiency manufacturing of sustainable composite materials
  • Reuse and recycling of composite materials
  • Characterisation and testing related to the above
  • Process simulation and experimental validation related to the above
Publications

Journal articles

  • Çelik M, Maguire JM, Hasrin H, Noble T, Robert C & Ó Brádaigh CM (2025) . Composites Part B: Engineering, 292.
  • Maguire JM, Mamalis D, ÅŒtomo S & McCarthy ED (2024) . Composite Structures, 337, 118090-118090.
  • Maguire JM, Wang J-Y & Ó Brádaigh CM (2024) . Powders, 3(2), 168-189.
  • Maguire JM, Koutsos V & Ray D (2023) . Materials Today Communications, 37, 106961-106961.
  • Çelik M, Maguire JM, Noble T, Robert C & Ó Brádaigh CM (2023) . Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 164.
  • Çelik M, Noble T, Haseeb A, Maguire J, Robert C & Ó Brádaigh CM (2022) . Plastics, Rubber and Composites, 51(8), 383-392.
  • Maguire JM, Sharp ND, Pipes RB & Ó Brádaigh CM (2022) . Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 161.
  • Finnegan W, Allen R, Glennon C, Maguire J, Flanagan M & Flanagan T (2021) . Applied Composite Materials, 28(6), 2061-2086.
  • Floreani C, Cuthill F, Steynor J, Maguire J, McCarthy ED, Niessink MJ, Di Noi S, Wittevrongel L, Flanagan T & Bradaigh CMO (2021) Wind blade demonstrator: testing of 6m hybrid glass/carbon fibre powder epoxy composite wind blade demonstrator. SAMPE Journal, 57(3), 6-14.
  • Robert C, Pecur T, Maguire JM, Lafferty AD, McCarthy ED & Ó Brádaigh CM (2020) . Composites Part B: Engineering, 203.
  • Maguire JM, Simacek P, Advani SG & Ó Brádaigh CM (2020) . Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 136.
  • Maguire JM, Nayak K & Ó Brádaigh CM (2020) . Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 136.
  • Maguire JM, Nayak K & Ó Brádaigh CM (2018) . Materials & Design, 139, 112-121.
  • Vallatos A, Maguire JM, Pilavakis N, Cerniauskas G, Sturtivant A, Speakman AJ, Gourlay S, Inglis S, McCall G, Davie A , Boyd M et al () . Frontiers in Medical Technology, 3.

Conference proceedings

  • Smith ILM, Maguire JM, Devine M, McCarthy ED, Thies PR, Oterkus S & Obande W (2025) . Volume 1: Offshore Technology; Structures, Safety and Reliability; Materials Technology, 22 June 2025 - 27 June 2025.
  • Tsavea AP, Maguire J, Robert C, McCarthy E, Barocio E, Pipes RB & Brádaigh CMÓ (2025) MODELLING RESIDUAL STRESSES IN THICK-SECTION THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITES FOR WIND AND TIDAL ENERGY BLADES. Iccm International Conferences on Composite Materials
  • Maguire JM, Roy AS, Doyle DA, Logan MG & Brádaigh CMÓ (2015) Resin characterisation for numerical modelling of through-thickness resin flow during ooa processing of thick-section wind or tidal turbine blades. Iccm International Conferences on Composite Materials, Vol. 2015-July

Preprints

  • Maguire J, Wang J-Y & Ó Brádaigh C (2024) , MDPI AG.
Teaching interests
  • 2nd semester of GEE208 Mechanics of Structures alongside Dr. Hatice Sas.
  • MEng final year project supervision
  • MSc project supervision
  • Academic tutor for 1st year BEng/MEng students and MSc students

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