Prof. Nicholas BJones

High Temperature Materials
The European Commission has set challenging emission targets for the aerospace industry.  Meeting these requirements will require the next generation of gas turbine engines to operate at higher temperatures and run at higher rotational speeds.  These conditions are beyond the capability of currently available materials, and thus our research is focused on developing new solutions, both in conventional Ni-based superalloys and novel metallic-intermetallic systems.

Micromechanics and Functional Fatigue of Transforming Alloys
Transforming materials, such as shape memory alloys, have the potential to revolutionise traditional engineering concepts by introducing components that are functional as well as structural.  However, the properties of these materials are often found to cyclically deteriorate, so called functional fatigue, which has limited their widespread uptake.  Our research is aimed at developing a fundamental understanding of the micromechanics of these materials through high energy synchrotron diffraction studies.

Themomechanical Processing of Engineering Alloys
The majority of engineering components used today have been thermomechanically processed prior to application.  These processes are not only part of the forming operation, but in many cases, are critical in developing the correct microstructure and key mechanical properties required in service.  Therefore, it is hugely important to understand the deformation behaviour of materials during processing, and to establish accurate descriptions of the active mechanisms.  Our research in this area covers a range of engineering alloys, developing mechanistic understanding from microstructural and process data.