Research Group: Engineering Materials

Currently Active:: Yes

Head of Group: Professor Marco J. Starink The principal goal of our research activities is to develop fundamental understanding of the physical processes and interactive mechanisms in materials that affect the performance of engineering systems. This understanding and knowledge is then transferred into engineering technologies through enhanced materials performance and improved designs.

Group Overview

Our researchers conduct research across a wide range of engineering materials and their applications in:

aerospace and automotive sectors
energy systems
electronic and biomedical devices
microsystems

Please see our research strengths for more detail

Our research activities are further stimulated by multidisciplinary collaborations with other research groups in Engineering and the Environment, and with many other research groups across the University. This provides an excellent forum for training high-calibre research students. It also strengthens our educational mission and provides undergraduates with an ideal environment for project work.

The Group comprises 15 academics, seven research fellows and 33 research students. Our staff occupy influential positions on international and national research committees, hold fellowships with the Institute of Materials, Mining and Mineralogy, have been elected to the Peer Review College of EPSRC and occupy editorial positions on leading international research journals, including Principal Editor of Materials Letters and Editor of Materials Science and Engineering.

Contact us

Engineering Sciences Unit

Engineering and the Environment
University of Southampton
Highfield Campus
Southampton SO17 1BJ

Senior Administrative Officer: Sue Berger
Tel: +44 (0)23 8059 2871
Administrative Officer: Katherine Day
Tel: +44 (0)23 8059 2841
Administrative Officer: Fiona Haigh
Tel: +44 (0)23 8059 7082
Administrative Officer: Heather Marshall
Tel: +44 (0)23 8059 5568

Email: engsci@soton.ac.uk

Facilities

Major facilities used within the Engineering Materials research group include:

The group is well-equipped with characterisation tools, including a state-of-the-art transmission electron microscope, field emission gun scanning electron microscope, a He ion microscope, access to an AFM, extensive electrochemical facilities and a major new X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanner centre at μ-VIS.

Postgraduate opportunities

You can find all of our projects with guaranteed funding here.

Research Staff

List of all staff members in Engineering Materials
Staff Member	Primary Position
Mithila Achintha	Lecturer in Structural Engineering
Trevor Allen	Postgraduate Research Student in Engineering Materials
Janice M Barton	Professor of Experimental Mechanics
Dmitry Bavykin	Associate Professor Energy Technology
Atul Bhaskar	Professor of Applied Mechanics
Richard P Boardman	Research Fellow
Dan Bray	Postgraduate research student
Martin Browne	Professor of Applied Biomaterials
Daniel Bull	Postgraduate research student
Jack S Callaghan	Postgraduate research student
Somsubhro Chaudhuri	Postgraduate research student
Stewart Everitt	Postgraduate research student
Junqing Fan	Postgraduate research student
Hans Fangohr	Professor of Computational Modelling
Khong Wui Gan	Assistant Professor
Nong Gao	Lecturer
Andrew R. Hamilton	Associate Professor
Yi Huang	Senior Research Fellow in Severe Plastic Deformation
Mohd Adib Ibrahim	Postgraduate research student
Liudi Jiang	Professor of Materials and Electromechanical Systems
Mohammad Mehdi Kashani	Associate Professor in Structural Mechanics, Design and Earthquake Engineering
Samuel Keyes	New Frontiers Fellow
Kerwin Khu	Postgraduate research student
Denis Kramer	Associate Professor
Andreu Laborda	PhD researcher of Engineering Materials group
Jack Lambert	Postgraduate research student
Terence G Langdon	Professor of Materials Science
Tobias Laux	Postgraduate research student
Tom Markvart	Professor of Energy Conversion
Mark Noel Mavrogordato	Research Fellow
Thomas Mbuya	Postgraduate research student
Brian G Mellor	Associate Professor
Zhaozong Meng	Research Fellow
Geir Olafsson	Postgraduate research student
Fabrice Pierron	Professor of Solid Mechanics
Tomas Polcar	Professor of Materials Science and Tribology
Carlos Ponce de León Albarrán	Senior Lecturer, Energy Technology Group
Saranarayanan Ramachandran	PhD student in Engineering Materials Research Group
Vishagen Ramasamy	Postgraduate research student with the AFM research group
Philippa A.S Reed	Professor of Structural Materials
Andrew Robinson	Experimental Officer and Specialist in Materials and Structures
Christian Schoettle	Postgraduate research student
R Ajit Shenoi	Professor of Lightweight Structures
Ian Sinclair	Professor of Materials Engineering
Nazila Soleimani	Postgraduate research student
S Mark Spearing	University President and Vice-Chancellor (interim)
Marco J Starink	Professor of Materials Engineering
Nicola Symonds	Director
Jinghua Tang	Postgraduate research student
Ole Thybo Thomsen	Professor of Structures and Materials
Frank C Walsh	Professor of Electrochemical Engineering, Research Institute for Industry
Shuncai Wang	Lecturer
Arthur F Willoughby	Emeritus Professor
Charles E Wood	Research Fellow
Christopher John Woods	KTP Associate
Shoufeng Yang	Professor of Additive Manufacturing
Chao You	Postgraduate research student
Shahir Yusuf	Postgraduate research student
Xunli Zhang	Professor of Bioengineering and Microsystems

Related Projects

List of related projects to Engineering Materials
Related Projects	Status
3D Imaging Of The Tensile Failure Mechanisms Of Carbon Fibre Composites	Active
3D printing small implants	Active
Tribological behaviour of nano-structured alloys processed by Severe Plastic Deformation	Active
A new tool to identify defects in adhesively bonded joints	Active
Adaptive and smart materials and structures for more efficient vessels (Adam4eve)	Active
Advanced nanostructured coatings for aluminium alloys	Active
Advanced non-volatile memories based on resistive switching	Active
Aeostat Power Generation	Active
Aerospace composite materials damage assessment by High Resolution Computed Tomography	Active
Aesthetic consideration in ship design	Active
High strength aluminium alloys for aerospace applications	Active
Aluminium-air battery: study of three dimensional aluminium anode and air cathode for the development of high energy density battery for micro-UAVs	Active
An investigation into strong and ductile glass–GFRP composites	Active
An investigation into the face sheet debonding of glass balsa sandwich composites	Active
Analysis of debonding failure of externally–bonded FRP systems on concrete	Active
Analysis of adhesively-bonded composite joints	Active
Analysis of a Composite Materials using Multi-Scale Computed Tomography Techniques	Active
Analysis of stump tissue mechanics of lower limb amputees	Active
Applications of artificial neural networks (ANNs) in materials property correlations exploration	Active
Applications of thermography for material and structures monitoring and assessment	Active
Assessment of life extending surface treatment technologies for metallic structures	Active
Assessment of advanced nickel based turbine materials	Active
Bespoke fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) reinforcement for concrete structures	Active
Blocking blood supply to starve cancerous tumours	Active
Bond improvement methods for FRP internal reinforcement in concrete beams	Active
Carbon Nano Tube (CNT) Composite Surfaces for Electrical Contact Interfaces	Active
Characterisation and modelling residual stress in glass and its effect on structural design	Active
Strengthening of alloys by nanosized clusters	Active
Co-Ni-P Electrodeposits for Hard Chrome Replacement	Active
Corrosion Resistant Catalyst Supports	Active
Developing Hip Replacements: Simulations and Experimental Methods	Active
Development of an improved fatigue model for composite materials	Active
Development of borohydride fuel cells	Active
Digital image correlation for high strain rate behaviour investigation on glass fibre reinforced polymers	Active
Early crack initiation processes in steel arc welds	Active
Effect of surface defects on rolling contact fatigue of wheel/rail steels	Active
ELEVATE - ELEctrochemical Vehicle Advanced TEchnology (EP/M009394/1)	Active
EnDuRE: Hip Resurfacing Implants for Durability and Biocompatibility	Active
Energy harvesting utilising the gyroscopic effect	Active
Evaluating homogeneity in AZ91 magnesium alloy processed by high-pressure torsion and equal-channel angular pressing	Active
Fabrication of MEMS components using ultrafine-grained aluminium alloys	Active
Finite element modelling of fatigue crack growth in multi-layered systems under large scale yielding conditions	Active
New generation of protective coatings alternative to hard chrome	Active
High-fidelity testing of wind turbine blade substructures	Active
Imaging materials deforming really fast	Active
Imaging the mechanical properties of welds	Active
Improvements to experimental approach for application of optical methods to high-speed testing of composites	Active
In-situ calibration of cohesive zone models for composite damage	Active
In-situ characterization of microstructure and fatigue performance of Al-Si piston alloys	Active
Innovative smart magnetic materials and smart structures with hybrid vibration energy control for marine application	Active
Integrated experimental and computational characterisation of advanced composite materials subjected to multiaxial loading	Active
Interfacial sensors for lower limb prosthetic applications	Active
Investigation into the Switching Characteristics of Gold Coated Carbon Nanotubes under Low Current Conditions	Active
Life assessment methods for industrial steam and gas turbines	Active
Light harvesting for high-efficiency low-cost solar cells	Active
Lightweight ceramic nanotubes reinforced polymer composite coatings and nanofibres with improved impact resistance and responsive functions	Active
Load-bearing glass–adhesive joints	Active
Luminescent Monitoring for Tribological Coatings	Active
Methodology for assessing the life extension of high performance marine craft	Active
Microstructure and precipitation in Al-V-N microalloyed steels	Active
Microstructure, Microtexture and Properties of Ultrafine-Grained Metals and Alloys Processes by Severe Plastic Deformation	Active
Modelling and analysis of solid state reaction kinetics	Active
Influence of ultimate strength on aged and corroded ships	Active
Movement-tolerant joints in glass structures	Active
Nanoimprint lithography process development	Active
Nanoparticles for energy saving glazing	Active
Nanostructured diffusion barrier coatings for nuclear industry	Active
NECOBAUT: iron-air redox flow battery	Active
Novel Integrated Imaging Approaches for Damage Characterisation of Composite Materials and Structures	Active
Novel co-blended polymer matrix systems for fire resistant structural marine composites	Active
Organic nanoparticles for drug delivery – size matters	Active
Potential for evaluating residual stress using thermoelastic stress analysis	Active
Predictive modelling of quench sensitivity of Al alloys	Active
Preparation and characterisation of a rechargeable battery based on a conductive polymer and aluminum in an ionic liquid electrolyte	Active
Processing of nanostructured materials for medical applications	Active
Processing of a two phase alloy by severe plastic deformation	Active
Rapid Diagnosis of Allergy to Drugs using a Microfluidic Platform	Active
Rare earth effect on tribological bronze coatings	Active
Redox flow cells batteries: zinc - cerium	Active
Reliability based life-time prediction and assessment of composite sandwich structures	Active
RNLI Advanced Technology Partnership	Active
Scale up photoelectrochemical reactor using nanocatalytic material for environmental remediation	Active
Seeing the deformations inside solids	Active
Short crack growth and propagation in steels under creep-fatigue cycling	Active
Silicon Doped Boron Carbide: A New Super-hard Material?	Active
Simulation-based tailoring of nanoscale friction	Active
Simulation of tactical yacht racing: a human-psychological-physical AI-system in a dynamically changing yacht racing environment	Active
Smart surface: nanoactuators for advanced tribological applications	Active
Smart vibration control using magnetorheological elastomers in hybrid shear-compressive modes with application to maritime engineering	Active
Strain through the looking glass	Active
Strength assessment of damaged ship structures	Active
Strengthening of alloys by refining grains to the nanometer scale	Active
Structural modelling of damaged steel structures	Active
Suspension sprayed surface coatings for specialised applications	Active
Teardrop cracking: mechanism and design criteria	Active
The Virtual Fields Method	Active
Thermal degradation of foam cored sandwich structures	Active
Tribological behaviour of ultrafine-grained alloys formed by severe plastic deformation	Active
Use of cryogenic buoyancy systems for controlled removal of heavy objects from the seabed	Active
The use of optical techniques to assess the performance of composite materials under high velocity deformations	Active
Using photonics to improve the capture of solar radiation	Active
X-ray Computed Tomography and image-based modelling of plant roots and nutrient uptake	Active
PISTON: Does Developmental Plasticity Influence Speciation?	Active

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