Professor W Mark Rainforth

BMet PhD FIMMM CEng FInstP CPhys FRMS
Head of Department and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering

Address:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street, Sheffield, S1 3JD

Telephone: +44 (0) 114 222 5469
Fax: +44 (0) 114 222 5943

Email: m.rainforth@sheffield.ac.uk

After obtaining a 1st Class Honours degree from the University of Sheffield, Mark Rainforth initially followed an industrial career. He later joined the Department from the University of Leeds in 1989 and rapidly established state-of-the-art facilities in electron microscopy and tribology. He is co-author of the book `Ceramic Microstructures´ with W E Lee, a winner of the Rosenhain Medal of the IoM3 and has just finished his term as President of the Royal Microscopical Society.

Research interests

His research centres on the high resolution characterisation of microstructures, in particular interfaces and surfaces. His research programmes are broadly based and cover metals, ceramics and coatings:

• Aberration corrected electron microscopy to determine atomic structure and local bonding state, particularly at interfaces in, for example, nanoscale multilayer coatings or functional ceramics
• Understanding the dynamic microstructural changes that occur as a result of frictional contact, to thereby develop superior materials, for example, next generation hip arthroplasties
• Surface degeneration phenomena, such as oxidation of metals (including during hot rolling) and hydrothermal degradation of zirconia ceramics
• Microstructural evolution during the hot deformation of metals, particularly Ti, Mg and steels

Key projects

• Wear mechanisms in metals, ceramics and composites, e.g. metal on metal and ceramic on ceramic hip prosthetics
• Mechanisms of high temperature degradation in metals, ceramics and coatings
• Modern metals processing: transfer of knowledge and core skills to new and emerging technologies
• Nanostructure in functional ceramics
• Modelling surface evolution during hot rolling and wear
• Thermomechanical processing of Mg and Ti alloys and steels

Professional activities and recognition

• Vice President and International Secretary, Royal Microscopical Society (President, 2006-2009)
• Leverhulme/Royal Academy of Engineering Senior Research Fellow (2007-08)
• Rosenhain Medal and Pfeil Prize of the IoM3, Bronze Medal and Thomas Stephens Prize of the Tribology Society of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers
• Invited/keynote talks in recent years include: 10^th Mexican National Conference on Microscopy, Morelia, Mexico (2010), Homi Bhabha Centenary Conf. Mumbai (2009), EuroMat, Glasgow (x2), (2009), SIMPRO-08, India (2008), 19^th Turkish Electron Microscopy Conf., Turkey (2007), Monterray, Mexico, (2006), Baosteel 2^nd Conference, China (2006), 3^rd World Tribology Congress, USA (2005), EMAG, UK, (2005), ICMCTF, USA (2005), Nanoindentation of Coatings, India (2004), EELS of Steels and Alloys, Austria (2003), VI International Meeting on Materials and Composites, Mexico (2003), 2^nd World Tribology Congress, Austria (2001), Tribology Gordon Research Conf., USA (2000), 7^th Asia-Pacific Electron Microscopy Conf. Singapore (2000), Wear of Materials, Hyderabad, India (1998), EUREM (European Microscopy Conf.), Dublin (1996), 9^th World Ceramics Congress, Italy (1994)
• Member Board of Review, Materials and Metallurgical Transactions; Editorial Board, Materials Science and Technology, Journal Microscopy and Advances in Applied Ceramics
• Associate Editor, Journal American Ceramics Society
• Reviewer for a number of international bodies, including national funding agencies and RAE equivalents and international examiner for several overseas PhDs
• EPSRC Technical Opportunities Panel (TOP) and College member
• External examiner for Manchester MSc (2002-2006), Surrey Materials MSc and EngD (2007-2010), and Oxford Undergraduate (2009-2013)
• Director Sorby Nano Investigation Centre

Key publications

• Z. Zhou, W.M. Rainforth, Q. Luo, P.Eh. Hovsepian, J. J. Ojeda, M. E. Romero-Gonzalez, “Wear and friction of TiAlN/VN coatings against Al₂O₃ in air at room and elevated temperatures”, Acta Materialia, 58[8] (2010) 2912-2925.
• J. Rodriguez, A. Rico, E. Otero, W.M. Rainforth “Indentation Properties of Plasma Sprayed Al₂O₃–13% TiO₂ Nanocoatings”,  Acta Materialia 57 (2009) 3148–3156.
• M. Krzyzanowski, W.M. Rainforth, “Application of Combined Discrete/Finite Element Multiscale Method for Modelling of Mg Redistribution During Hot Rolling of Aluminium” Computer Methods in Materials Science, 9 (2009) 271-276.
• S.J. Cobo & W.M. Rainforth, Factors affecting the Development of Oxide Scales on Austenitic Stainless Steels during Hot Rolling in Steckel Mills, Metallurgical & Materials Transactions 39A (2008) 2486-2494.
• Z. Zhou, W.M. Rainforth, U. Falke, M. Falke, A. Bleloch & P. Hovsepian, On the structure and composition of nanoscale TiAlN/VN multilayers, Phil. Mag. A., 87(2), (2007), 967-978.
• M. Moser, P.H. Mayrhofer, I.M. Ross & W.M. Rainforth, Microstructure and mechanical properties of sputtered intermetallic Al-Au coatings, J. Appl. Phys., 102, (2007), 023523 1-6.
• C. Rodenburg and W.M. Rainforth, A quantitative analysis of the influence of carbides size distributions on wear behaviour of high speed steel in dry rolling/sliding contact, Acta Mater., 55(7), (2007), 2443-2454.
• C. Rodenburg and W.M. Rainforth, The influence of beam energy and oxidation on quantitative carbide analysis in the scanning electron microscope, J. Appl. Phys., 100, (2007), 114902 1-6.
• G. Angella, B.P. Wynne, W.M. Rainforth and J.H. Beynon, Microstructure Evolution of AISI 316L in Torsion at High Temperature, Acta Mater., 53, (2005), 1263-1275.
• W.M. Rainforth, Recent Developments in the Microscopy of Ceramics, Advances in Imaging and Electron Physics, Ed. P. W. Hawkes, Vol. 132, (2004), 167-246.
• W.M. Rainforth, M.P. Black, R.L. Higginson, E.J. Palmiere, C.M. Sellars, I. Pabst, P. Warbichler and F. Hofer, Precipitation of NbC in a Model Austenitic Steel Acta Mater., 50, (2002), 735-747.
• O. Barceinas-Sanchez and W.M. Rainforth, On the Role of Plastic Deformation During the Mild Wear of Alumina, Acta Mater., 46, (1998), 6475-6483.
• W.M. Rainforth and R. Stevens, The Sliding Wear Behaviour of Zirconia Against Ceramic Counterfaces, J. Mater. Res., 13, (1998), 396-405.

Research group

PDRA:
Dr Zhaoxia Zhou
Dr Michal Krzyzanowski
Dr John Hinton (Joint Dr Palmiere)
Dr Krzysztof Muszka (Joint Drs Wynne, Palmiere)
Olie Latinwo (Joint Drs Todd and Wynne)

PhD:
Anita Kamarolzaman*
Olie Latinwo (Joint with Dr Wynne)
Amit Rana* (Joint with Dr Inkson)
David Randman* (Joint with Dr Wynne)
Moises Talamantes- Silva* (Joint with Dr Wynne)
Paul Nnamchi (Joint with Dr Todd)
Andrew Williams* (Joint with Dr Wynne)
E Lizz Cedillo Saucedo* (Joint with Prof Reaney)
Leili Shirkhan*
Jake Corteen (Joint with Dr Todd)
Daryoush Ahmadi*
Alfonce Chamisa* (Joint with Dr Palmiere)
*= Principal Supervisor

Research centres

IMMPETUS – Institute for Microstructural and Mechanical Process Engineering: The University of Sheffield

Sorby Nano Investigation Centre

Sorby Centre for Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis