BOLTON Institute is to head a network of university research teams and industrialists investigating the potential of new-age materials - which have the unusual quality of getting fatter when stretched.

The Institute has been awarded £62,000 by the Engineering and physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to head up the network of researchers and industrialists on auxetic materials.

It is already accepted that auxetic materials - which get fatter when stretched - could have major applications in personal and sports protective clothing such as bullet proof vests, helmets and shin pads, biomedical applications such as replacement blood vessels and as self cleaning filters.

The award has been made to married couple Drs Kim and Andy Alderson, based in the Institute's Centre for Materials Research and Innovation, and recognises the expertise at Bolton in auxetic materials.

Dr Kim Alderson said: "The Bolton team is delighted to be leading this network of researchers. Not only will this enhance the growing reputation of the team and the Institute on a national and international level, but it will allow Bolton to be at the centre of developments in such an interested and growing area of research."

The institute team - consisting of about nine people - will collaborate with the Universities of Cambridge, Exeter and Sheffield, with input from Heriot-Watt University and the University of Malta.

Because of the award, researchers will be able to meet regularly, focus activities and expand on their knowledge.

Industrial partners currently are DuPont Polyester Technology, Rolls-Royce plc, QinetiQ, SEOS Displays Ltd, Hurel-Hispano, Dow Corning Ltd and ICI plc. It is envisaged that the Network will grow in members with interested parties - either academic or industrial - being invited to join.

The funds will allow a website to be set up, scientific seminars with major overseas speakers to be held at each of the academic institutions and for the preparation of bids for related research projects.

This is the third award that has been made to the Bolton team this year, following on from awards from DuPont (USA) and the EPSRC .

to work on auxetic fibres and smart composites, respectively, the latter being a collaboration with the Universities of Sheffield and Hull and QinetiQ.

The group also has two key peer-reviewed journal papers currently accepted for imminent publication. The first will be a landmark paper reporting the successful development of the world's first auxetic fibres - to be published in Plastics, Rubbers and Composites - and the second relates to work on molecular-level auxetic materials which will be published in the Physical Review Letters.

Dr Andy Alderson added that auxetic materials are not currently used in any available product and they are not something the average person will have come across even though research has been going on for between 10 and 15 years on the materials.