Energy Materials
The energy landscape is changing very rapidly. Key long term strategic challenges have been identified as the need to tackle climate change and ensure a secure, clean and affordable energy supply. Important materials challenges are: reducing time to market and life cycle costs; greater performance in harsher environments and improved life management and reliability.
Loughborough researchers are addressing these challenges, in particular: remaining life prediction of conventional power plant materials; developing solid oxide fuel cells with goals of lowering the operational temperature to reduce cost, the use of more sustainable materials, and increased reliability and lifetime through an understanding of degradation mechanisms; fuel cell polymer membranes; nanocrystalline semiconductor photoelectrochemical cells; materials modelling for nuclear applications; and damage resistance of advanced composite and smart structures.
Loughborough leads the EPSRC funded Supergen consortium concerned with the lifetime extension of conventional power plant. Many of the original fossil fired power plant design codes were conservative, providing opportunities to develop novel R&D tools, life prediction methodologies and condition monitoring methods that extend life, reduce maintenance costs and which take into account increased plant flexibility, for example, by co-firing with waste and biomass, and thereby allowing more cyclic operation. Current research is developing methods for accurate assessment of materials degradation in order to predict component lifetimes, and additionally is developing new materials systems for future power plant.
Primary research interests of the group are:
- High temperature materials
- Lifetime extension of existing conventional power plants
- Regeneration of aged components
- Study and modelling of degradation mechanisms
- Lifetime prediction modelling
Highlighted Projects
- Microstructural Evolution in high Cr power plant steels
- The development of improved coatings for gas turbine blades
- Microstructural evolution of Nimonic263 in high temperature power plant
- Stress corrosion cracking of martensitic stainless steel
- Weld pool shaping and microstructural control using computer generated holographic optic laser welding and cladding of steels
Academic Staff