Biography

I joined the School of Mechanical and Design Engineering in the Faculty of Technology at the University of Portsmouth in July 2020 as a Professor of Advanced Manufacturing.

Previously, I was an Associate Professor in Material Engineering in the College of Engineering at Swansea University. Prior to that, I held several research roles in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge, the School of Materials at University of Manchester, and the Materials Design Laboratory at Pohang University of Science and Technology (South Korea).

I hold a PhD degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Loughborough University, an MSc degree from the University of Manchester in Corrosion Science and Engineering, and a BSc degree from Salahaddin University in Mechanical Engineering.

Research interests

Currently I lead Materials Design & Characterisation (MD&C) Research Group within the School of Mechanical and Design Engineering. My research portfolio over recent years has mainly focused on advanced manufacturing, materials characterisation, physical metallurgy, materials processing, materials performance and integrity, casting technology, forging, phase transformation and heat treatment, structure/property relationship, advance manufacturing, mechanical property of materials, deformation mechanism, microtexture and texture analysis for the materials used in power generation, automotive and aero-engine applications.

My key research area is the microstructure/microtexture characterisation of materials to ascertain exact structure/property relationship in various alloys. I focus on understanding and predicting microstructure and texture evolution during material processing, deformation and heat treatment as a foundation of materials property optimisation, designing new alloys as well as the development of the processing and joining techniques. A combination of electron microscopy and diffraction-based techniques (including SEM, EDS, HR-EBSD, TEM, XRD, EMPA, GDOES, X-ray Nano and Micro-Tomography, and utilising synchrotron and neutron diffraction facilities) assisted me greatly in achieving a comparative characterisation of microstructures and assess the quantitative utility of different techniques.

Current Research Activities

• The influence of local texture, global/macro/meso/micro-texture and orientation clusters and strain/stress incompatibilities in a polycrystalline material on deformation mechanism and fracture mechanics in the alloys used in aggressive environments. 
• The effects of processing parameters (during investment casting, forging, rolling, HIPing, welding and additive manufacturing), heat treatments and aging on mechanical properties of high temperature alloys. 
• Structure-property relationship in superalloys, ferrous and HCP alloys using various mechanical and microstructural characterisations techniques. 
• In-situ mechanical testing and heat treatment, utilising HR-EBSD, Digital Image Correlation, Synchrotron and Neutron Diffraction techniques to investigate deformation mechanism, recrystallisation and phase transformation of metals at high temperature conditions.
• Mechanical property optimisation (including; creep, fatigue, dwell fatigue) of the critical alloys used in aerospace, nuclear, energy, automotive and power generation sectors. 
• Ductility issue in advanced structural alloys including HCP, FCC and BCC alloys. 
• Exploring the potential of data mining and visualisation in alloy’s structure-property relationship. 
• Crack initiation and propagation in HCP and FCC alloys under various loading conditions. I believe this aspect is a cornerstone for enhancement of creep, fatigue and dwell fatigue properties in advanced alloys. 
• High temperature oxidation of alloys and its influence on materials performance.
• Magnetic property optimisation in electrical steel for future electric car and transformer applications.