Research Group: Engineering Materials

Currently Active:: Yes

Our research focuses on addressing challenging needs across a broad range of engineering fields. This is underpinned by fundamental understanding and innovation in materials design, failure mechanisms, future manufacturing and characterisation of system performance. Our research is supported by state-of-the-art facilities. 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

Head of Group: Professor Liudi Jiang

We are part of the Mechanical Engineering Department. Our research activities are often multidisciplinary involving collaborations with other research groups, Universities and industry partners. Our research areas stretch across many sectors including aerospace, automotive, energy, electronics, electrochemics and healthcare technologies. Our current research areas include:

Contact us

Mechanical Engineering Department

Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, School of Engineering
University of Southampton
Building 5, Highfield Campus
Southampton, SO17 1BJ

Faculty Operating Service
Telephone: +44 (0)23 8059 2841
Email: mecheng@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

Research Staff

List of all staff members in Engineering Materials
Staff Member	Primary Position
Mithila Achintha	Visiting lecturer
Dmitry Bavykin	Associate Professor Energy Technology
Atul Bhaskar	Professor of Applied Mechanics
Richard P Boardman	Senior Research Fellow
Martin Browne	Professor of Applied Biomaterials
Hans Fangohr	Professor of Computational Modelling
Khong Wui Gan	Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering Lecturer
Nong Gao	Lecturer
Gilang Muhammad Gemilang	Maritime Engineering Research Fellow
Andrew R. Hamilton	Associate Professor
Meisam Jalalvand	Lecturer in Composite Materials
Liudi Jiang	Professor of Materials and Electromechanical Systems
Mohammad Mehdi Kashani	Associate Professor in Structural Mechanics, Design and Earthquake Engineering
Orestis L Katsamenis	Research Fellow
Denis Kramer	Associate Professor
Terence G Langdon	Professor of Materials Science
Jianjia Ma	Research Fellow
Aleksander Marek	Research Fellow
Tom Markvart	Professor of Energy Conversion
Mark Noel Mavrogordato	Senior Research Fellow
Fabrice Pierron	Professor of Solid Mechanics
Tomas Polcar	Professor of Materials Science and Tribology
Carlos Ponce de León Albarrán	Senior Lecturer, Energy Technology Group
Katy Rankin	Research Fellow
Philippa A.S Reed	Professor of Structural Materials
Andrew Robinson	Experimental Officer and Specialist in Materials and Structures
Sebastian Rosini
R Ajit Shenoi	Professor of Lightweight Structures
Ian Sinclair	Professor of Materials Engineering
S Mark Spearing	Vice President, Research and Enterprise
Marco J Starink	Professor of Materials Engineering
Nicola Symonds	Operations Director of nC2
Jinghua Tang	Research Fellow
Ole Thybo Thomsen	Professor of Structures and Materials
Frank C Walsh	Emeritus Professor of Electrochemical Engineering
Ding Wang	Primary position - Research Fellow
Shuncai Wang	Lecturer
Arthur F Willoughby	Emeritus Professor
Shoufeng Yang	Professor of Additive Manufacturing
Xunli Zhang	Professor of Bioengineering and Microsystems

Related Projects

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

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