Emeritus Professor H A Davies
BSc PhD ARSM DIC CPhys MInstP CEng FIMMM FREng
Emeritus Professor
Address:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street, Sheffield, S1 3JD
Telephone: +44 (0) 114 222 5518
Fax: +44 (0) 114 222 5943
Email: h.a.davies@sheffield.ac.uk
Hywel Davies joined the University in 1969 as a lecturer in the Department of Metallurgy. He is a former Chairman of the Management and Funding Panel for the EPSRC´s Advanced Magnetics Programme.
Research Interests
His research has concentrated mainly on the science and technology of solidification at ultra high cooling rates. The areas covered include: (i) the mechanisms of formation of metastable microstructures, with particular emphasis on amorphous and nanostructured alloys; (ii) the structures and properties of several classes of materials including metallic glasses, nanophase hard and soft magnetic alloys and microcrystalline ferrous and non-ferrous alloys; (iii) the principles and applications of rapid solidification processing of advanced alloys, including the direct casting of thin strip and wire, and powder atomisation followed by consolidation. The research on metallic glasses led to the development of alloy glass ribbon for razor blade applications.
A new family of nanocomposite hard magnetic Rare Earth Fe-B alloys has been developed, in which exchange coupling between the `hard´ RE2Fe14B crystallites and `soft´ a-Fe grains leads to magnets with enhanced energy products. New nanocomposite FeSiB-based soft magnetic alloys with Al additions, and having extremely low coercivity, have also been developed. The roles of other optimum alloying additions are being studied, using state-of-the-art vibrating sample magnetometry, based on a 9 Tesla superconducting magnet, and high resolution magnetic force microscopy. Novel amorphous alloys that can be formed in thicknesses >10mm, are also being investigated. These can be shaped by die-casting or mechanical processes and have exciting combinations of properties.
Age hardened, high conductivity alloys with enhanced strength, that are produced from rapidly quenched powder, and novel binder systems for precision shaping of alloy components by powder injection moulding are also under development.
Selected Publications
- H A Davies Nanocrystalline Exchange Enhanced Hard Magnetic Alloys, Invited opening plenary paper presented at European Magnetic Materials and Applications Conference, Vienna, September 1995, J Magn Magn Mater, 1996, 157/158, 8-11.
- S R Chen, H A Davies and W M Rainforth Austenite Phase Formation in Rapidly Solidified Fe-Cr-Mn-C Steels, Acta Materialia, 1999, 47, 4555-4569.
- I Todd, B J Tate, H A Davies, M R J Gibbs, D Kendall and R V Major Magnetic Properties of Ultra Soft Nanocomposite FeAlSiBNbCu Alloys, J Magn Magn Mater, 2000, 215/216, 272-275.
- J B Correia and H A Davies Magnetic and Structural Monitoring of Nanophase Precipitation During Ageing of Water Atomised Cu-5% Co Alloy Powder, Acta Materialia, 2000, 48, 4115-4123.
- M K Griffiths, J E L Bishop, J W Tucker and H A Davies Computer Simulation of the Effect of an Ultra Soft Phase on the Magnetic Properties of Nanocrystalline Permanent Magnets, J Magn Magn Mater, 2001, 234, 331-352.
Research centres
Sheffield Centre for Advanced Magnetic Materials and Devices