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Engineering

Dr Brian G. Mellor MA, PhD. MIMMM, C.Eng

Emeritus Fellow in Mechanical Engineering

Dr Brian G. Mellor's photo

Brian Mellor is a Metallurgist who studied at the University of Cambridge where he obtained both his Master’s degree and PhD

Forty years of teaching Engineers has convinced me that a detailed knowledge and understanding of materials behaviour is indispensable for their future career and for designing components that give satisfactory service performance.

How materials could perform

He has been a Professional Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining since 1973 and a Chartered Engineer since 1978. He has worked in academia and University Consultancy activities for most of his professional life, primarily at the University of Southampton where he taught undergraduate modules on Manufacturing and Materials. He has published over 150 papers in refereed academic journals, edited works and conference proceedings and was editor of the book entitled “Surface Coatings for Protection against Wear” published by Woodhead Publishing Limited in June 2006.

Since his University retirement in 2019 he remains active, as an Emeritus Fellow, in University research projects and Materials Consultancy.

Research interests

Brian has a long-standing interest in Shape Memory Alloys. His principal research interests in recent years have been in the fields of the service performance of materials, in particular the low cycle fatigue behaviour of shot peened ferritic steels used in power plant turbine blades, the micromechanics of fatigue crack initiation at welds studied by a data rich approach including CT scanning, white etching cracks in bearing steels produced by rolling contact fatigue and high pressure torsion, and the lubricated wear of polymeric materials.

PhD research

Brian, following his retirement continues to have an active research portfolio. He co-supervises, with Dr Monica Ratoi, Go Tatsumi whose thesis is entitled “Effect of lubrication on tribological properties of PEEK and PEEK composites”. A paper co-authored by Brian with Monica Ratoi and Go Tatsumi entitled " Effect of lubrication on friction and wear properties of PEEK with steel counterparts " published in Tribology Online was given a best paper award at the Annual Meeting of the Japanese Tribologists, May 2021.
He is also Co-investigator of the project sponsored by Exxon Mobil entitled “Impact of Electrostatic Charges on Lubrication and Wear Mechanisms of Bearings”.

Research projects

Exxon Mobil sponsored PhD project entitled “Impact of Electrostatic Charges on Lubrication and Wear Mechanisms of Bearings”.

Research group

Engineering Materials

Affiliate research group

national Centre for Advanced Tribology at Southampton (nCATS)

Brian was appointed Technical Manager of the Engineering Materials Consultancy Service, University of Southampton in 1985.

From 1984 until his retirement in 2019 he undertook over 1,000 consultancies for the Engineering Materials Consultancy Service. These included several major investigations on ship and small craft casualties, e.g. Holland 1 submarine, Serena, Kirki, Silimna, Ethnic, Union Power, Solent Express, Rambler 100, Cheeki Rafiki where his expertise in fatigue and many aspects of corrosion, e.g. galvanic, pitting, erosion proved decisive.

This was recognised by the United Kingdom Maritime & Coastguard Agency when they awarded him an “In Appreciation” Certificate for his expertise, dedication and professionalism in the investigation into the loss of the yacht “Cheeki Rafiki” in May 2014 and subsequent criminal proceedings.

Brian until his retirement from Southampton University was Module coordinator over many years of the Part 3 undergraduate module on “Manufacturing and Materials”. He also taught parts of the Part 4 modules on “Failure of Materials and Components”, “Surface Engineering” and the section on high strength steels in “Materials in Transport”. He has given short courses on Failure Analysis at the University of Southampton, Solent University and the University of Barcelona.

Dr Brian G. Mellor
Engineering, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton. SO17 1BJ United Kingdom
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