The School of Engineering

Aerospace Materials

People

Professor Jie Tong, Mr Colin Lupton, Dr Sarinova Simandjuntak, Dr Bing Lin, Dr Alkistis Karabela

Research Activities

We conduct research into deformation, fatigue and fracture of engineering structures and components subjected to in-service loading conditions, particularly for nickel and titanium alloys used in turbine blades and discs in aero-engines. We collaborate with aerospace industrial partners such as Rolls-Royce plc and GKN Aerospace, as well as academic partners including Universities of Manchester, Cranfield and Siegen (Germany), amongst others. We have extensive specialist experimental facilities and advanced modelling capacities in this area, as a result of high quality research funded by the EPSRC, TSB, MoD, the Royal Society, the Leverhulme Trust and the University of Portsmouth.

In recent years, studies of advanced constitutive models and finite element analysis have further strengthened our analytical and numerical capabilities. In particular, a coupled deformation-diffusion approach has been developed to study the interaction of creep, fatigue and oxidation damage in nickel-based superalloys for aeroengine turbine disc applications. Fundamental three-dimensional crystal plasticity and discrete dislocation dynamics models have been developed to simulate the mechanical behaviour of nickel-based alloys under fatigue-creep conditions. Another development is the study of early fatigue crack growth after FOD in Ti-6Al-4V aerofoil specimens under simulated flight cycles, using both experimental and numerical approaches.

For further information visit www.port.ac.uk/research/mbm/aerospace/