The University of Sheffield
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Dr C Pinna

Dr C Pinna

Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering

Head of Solids and Materials Teaching Group

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Sir Frederick Mappin Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
UK

Telephone: +44(0)114 222 7831
Fax: +44(0)114 222 7890

email : c.pinna@sheffield.ac.uk

Profile

Christophe Pinna obtained his PhD from Ecole Polytechnique in France in the field of fatigue and fracture of materials. He joined the Department in 1998 as a Research Associate and started to work on the thermo-mechanical processing of metals. He became Research Fellow the same year and Lecturer in 2000. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2008.

Areas of Research

Dr Pinna currently has 2 PhD students and has successfully supervised a further three who have gained PhDs. His research group also includes 2 Post-Doctoral Research Associates and 1 Post-Graduate Research Associate.
Current research activities cover the areas of the mechanics of materials, thermo-mechanical processing, machining, fatigue and fracture and residual stresses. The work involves multi-scale experiments run at both room and elevated temperature to quantify the deformation of microstructures using microgrids combined with digital image correlation. Mechanical testing facilities include a tensile machine working inside the chamber of a scanning electron microscope. Modelling techniques include macro- and micro-scale finite element models combined with cellular automata models of microstructure evolution. Projects are funded through grants from EPSRC, the European Union and industry.

Research Interests

• Crystal Plasticity-Finite Element modelling of deformed microstructures
• Cellular Automata / Finite Element modelling of recrystallisation textures and phase transformation
• Local deformation and damage development in Dual-Phase and TRIP steels
• Modelling Friction Stir welding
• Modelling the effect of residual stresses on the manufacturing induced part distortion in aerospace alloy components
• Metal cutting mechanics: macro-micro strategies
• Fatigue behaviour of a 2618-T6 aluminium alloy used in turbocharger compressor wheels.

Teaching

MEC207 Materials Processing
MEC313 Finite Element Techniques
MEC330 Experiments and Modelling
MEC333 Integrated Design Skills

Current Research Grants

1. EPSRC (January 2008) "A new framework for hybrid through-process modelling, process simulation and optimisation in the metals industry", £ 4,577,550 (IMMPETUS - www.immpetus.group.shef.ac.uk)

2. EPSRC Platform grant (August 2007) "Modern metals processing: transfer of knowledge and core skills to new and emerging technologies", £ 880,000 (IMMPETUS - www.immpetus.group.shef.ac.uk)

3. European Union Framework 6 (October 2005) "COMPACT project – A concurrent approach to manufacturing induced part distortion in aerospace components" led by AIRBUS, £ 278,716

Selected publications