Easter eggs make the cut

Easter comes particularly early this year and long before Christmas chocolate makers were working on the latest designs for this years Easter eggs.  To be one 'cut' above the rest Thorntons formed an unusual alliance with experts at The University of Nottingham.

After coming up with a unique spraying device to decorate their Easter eggs the Derbyshire based chocolatier went in search of equipment capable of cutting out the designs for their new polycarbonate moulds.

But no one could find a way of carving perfect shapes in the moulds without melting or damaging the plastic. As a last resort the chocolate maker turned to an institution renowned for its 'cutting' edge research and technology.

Twelve months ago experts in the School of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering joined forces with Rolls Royce, the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and the Midlands Aerospace Alliance to establish Europe's first state of the art waterjet machining technology centre.

The £1.1 million centre houses equipment that uses a six-axis computer controlled waterjet machine. The machine, which is one of the most advanced of its type in the world, produces a waterjet at pressures that are so high it can carve cavities and cut almost anything. The water comes out of the nozzle at 55,000 psi and speeds of up to 2,000 mph.

The waterjet, which can cut blocks of metal into three dimensional components, is an important resource for engineering and manufacturing businesses, making them more competitive within the global aerospace market. It also has some rather unexpected uses.

Philip Shipway, Professor of Engineering Materials, said: "The attributes of waterjet technology make it the method of choice in certain circumstances, particularly when heat and high forces need to be avoided. When we were approached by Thorntons, we could see immediately that we had a technology that fitted the bill. That's not to say there weren't challenges to be overcome, but a combination of ingenuity and hard work by all involved has enabled us to deliver a first class solution. Thorntons benefit, and we have developed our know-how; everyone wins."

Founded in the early 1900's Thorntons has grown into an organisation with a turnover in excess of £180 million. But this proved to be one of the most interesting challenges in their search for chocolate creativity.

David Brealey, Chocolatier, said: "We have been working with a spraying company on developing a machine which will allow us to spray chocolate as a decoration, the difficulty we experienced was when we tried to make stencils for our Easter eggs.  Trying to cut 1.5mm polycarbonate over the curvature of an Easter egg was causing the development team a real headache. 

"We had tried pretty much every method of cutting available and found water jet cutting to be the most successful.  The problem was getting the cut to follow a curve of the egg.  Luckily for us our local University had this state-of-the-art 6 axis cutter and initial trials proved very successful.  Without the technology and support of the university the potential of the spraying system would have been very limited."

The moulds are already in use producing the chocolate eggs that will appear in Thorntons retail estate next Easter.


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Notes to Editors: The University of Nottingham is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 70 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and Times Higher (THES) World University Rankings.

It provides innovative and top quality teaching, undertakes world-changing research, and attracts talented staff and students from 150 nations. Described by The Times as Britain's "only truly global university", it has invested continuously in award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia.

Twice since 2003 its research and teaching academics have won Nobel Prizes. The University has won the Queen's Award for Enterprise in both 2006 (International Trade) and 2007 (Innovation - School of Pharmacy).

Its students are much in demand from 'blue-chip' employers. Winners of Students in Free Enterprise for three years in succession, and current holder of UK Graduate of the Year, they are accomplished artists, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, innovators and fundraisers. Nottingham graduates consistently excel in business, the media, the arts and sport. Undergraduate and postgraduate degree completion rates are amongst the highest in the United Kingdom.