Advanced Materials Research Group

The unifying theme of the AMRG is the ‘process-structure-property’ interrelationship of materials. We aim to explore the links between the processing of materials, the development of their microstructures and their useful functional properties across a range of applications. We seek to enhance the performance of existing materials and develop new materials with new functionalities.

Process

Metallic foam processing, powder metal processing, laser processing, fabrication of novel photonic glass fibres and surface engineering are all advanced materials processing techniques used to create specific materials and material combinations. The optimisation of processing techniques and the effects of processing parameters on material structure and properties forms an important part of our work.

Structure

Metallic foams and structured photonic crystals are examples of our work in which the material structure is deliberately manipulated so that it is optimised for a particular application. A key part of our work is to characterise the structure of materials and link this to their properties and performance, from the nano- to the macroscopic scale.

Property

We are actively developing new materials with specific properties such as metal hydride systems for hydrogen storage and chalcogenide glasses for optical fibre systems. Other active areas of research include surface engineering to locally enhance properties. We have active research interests in the fields of thermal spraying (HVOF and CGDS), electrodeposition, electrostatic spray assisted vapour deposition (ESAVD) and aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition. This includes creating metallic glass coatings with high strength and corrosion resistance, cermet coatings with good wear resistance, as well as functional thin films and nanocomposite coatings.

Faculty of Engineering

The University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD

Contact: Aileen Bishop
email: mms-enquiries@nottingham.ac.uk