Research: Surface Engineering and Tribology
The Surface Engineering research in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering is directed primarily towards the evaluation and enhancement of the engineering properties of materials, which are often dominated by surface characteristics (such as wear, friction and corrosion). The research therefore includes topics such as: the development of coating & treatment processes, mechanical (including tribological) property testing & evaluation and high-resolution analysis & characterisation of surface layers.
Research Summary and Principle Aims
We specialise in all matters relating to the production, evaluation and characterisation of coatings and surface treatments for engineering applications. We work closely with partner laboratories within the Department of Engineering Materials which specialise in topic areas such as tissue engineering and magnetic thin films.
The group´s main research emphasis is in the fields of plasma-based coating deposition and surface treatment process technologies. These include the development of new sputter-deposited metallic nanocomposite coatings with controlled mechanical properties, and plasma electrolytic processes for the surface hardening (and other functional treatments) of, primarily, aluminium, magnesium and titanium light alloys.
Selected Projects
- Platform Grant: Advanced Surface Engineering (EPSRC: £432,962)
- Modelling and growth studies of metal oxide coatings (EPSRC: £363,253)
- LIBTEC (DTI Technology Programme: £230,141)
- Development of novel hard facings to enhance wear resistance for oil industry drilling equipment (KTP project: £173,733)
- Surface Engineering Capacity Building in South Yorkshire (NAMTEC: £389,360)
- INNOVATIAL (EC: £682,807)
Key publications
- S Neuville and A Matthews, (2007). A perspective on the optimisation of hard carbon and related coatings for engineering applications. Thin Solid Films, 515, 6619-6653.
- A Matthews, S Franklin & K Holmberg, (2007). Tribological Coatings: Contact Mechanisms and Selection. J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys., 40, 5463-5475.
- M Audronis, P J Kelly, R D Arnell, A Leyland & A Matthews, (2005). The structure and properties of chromium diboride coatings deposited by pulsed magnetron sputtering of powder targets. Surf. Coat. Technol., 200/5-6, 1366.
- L O Snizhko, A L Yerokhin, A Pilkington, N L Gurevina, D O Misnyankin, A Leyland & A Matthews, (2004). Anodic processes in plasma electrolytic oxidation of aluminium in alkaline solutions. Electrochimica Acta, 49, 2085.
- M A Baker, P J Kench, M C Joseph, C Tsotsos, A Leyland & A Matthews, (2003). The nanostructure and mechanical properties of PVD CrCu(N) coatings. Surf. Coat. Technol., 162, 222
- A L Yerokhin, X Nie, A Leyland & A Matthews, (2000). Characterisation of oxide films produced by plasma electrolytic oxidation on a Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Surf. Coat. Technol., 130, 195.
- A Leyland & A Matthews, (2000). On the significance of the H/E ratio in wear control : A nanocomposite approach to optimised tribological behaviour. Wear, 246, 1.
- C Rebholz, H Ziegele, A Leyland & A Matthews, (1999). Structure, mechanical and tribological properties of nitrogen-containing chromium coatings prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering. Surf. Coat. Technol., 115, 222.
- Z. Zhou, W.M.Rainforth, U.Falke, M. Falke, A.Bleloch & P. Hovsepian, (2007). On the structure and composition of nanoscale TiAlN/VN multilayers, Phil. Mag. A., 87(2), 967-978.
- M. Moser, P.H. Mayrhofer, I.M. Ross & W.M. Rainforth, (2007). Microstructure and mechanical properties of sputtered intermetallic Al-Au coatings, J. Applied Physics, 102, 023523 1-6.
- Z. Zhou, W.M. Rainforth, C. Rodenburg, N.C. Hyatt, D.B. Lewis & P.Eh. Hovsepian, (2007). Oxidation behaviour and mechanisms of TiAlN/VN coatings, Metallurgical & Materials Transactions A, 38A, 2464-2478.
People
- Professor Allan Matthews, Professor of Surface Engineering, specialises in the deposition, testing and evaluation of plasma-based coatings for tribological and multifunctional applications.
- Professor Mark Rainforth, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, is interested in the characterisation of coatings at high spatial resolution and their tribological behaviour.
- Dr Adrian Leyland, Lecturer in Surface Technology, specialises in nanocomposite PVD coatings and duplex/hybrid treatments for wear and corrosion protection of non-ferrous metals.
- Dr Aleksey Yerokhin, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, has research interests comprising of plasma-assisted electrochemical processes, especially for surface modification and coating deposition.