Research Report 2010-2011 - College of Engineering - University of ...

elating to corrosion in a wide range of industrial systems are investigated. The effect of
sensitization temperature and time on the stress-corrosion cracking of aluminum alloys
used in marine applications is investigated, the effect of welding parameters on the
fracture behaviour of high-pressure vessel steels and corrosion wear and erosion
corrosion resistance of engineering materials employed in potash brine environment are
also investigated. Intensive research is also being conducted on superhard
nanocomposite materials for applications in mechanical, nuclear, and biomedical
engineering. Characterization of biological materials, specifically physical attributes and
structure, force-deformation, viscoelastic, thermal, frictional and electromagnetic
properties are also carried out in order to design effective processing systems for these
materials.
Synchrotron Radiation and Surface Science Research
The understanding of the electronic structure of materials is very important for the
design of new materials with novel electronic, optical, magnetic, photochemical, and
catalytic properties. This ultimately will lead to new devices. Also, the knowledge of the
properties and behavior of surfaces is necessary in such diverse fields as electronics,
nonlinear optics, sensors, catalysis, biotechnology, medicine, interfaces, adhesion and
wear, friction and wetting. It is equally crucial in the manufacture and characterization
of semiconductor devices and coatings. Synchrotron radiation materials research
focuses on the characterization and probing of the electronic structure of complex
materials, magnetic systems, strong ferromagnetic thin films, magnetic semiconductors,
and biomaterials. These materials are of great theoretical and practical interest
because their electronic structure is not merely related to atomic species and position
but to ordering of spins, orbitals and charge on the lattice ions. They are candidate
materials for the next generation of information technology with higher storage density
and faster processing. With the unique capabilities offered by synchrotron radiation,
low-energy excitation studies can be carried out. For example, magnetic (and
nanostructured) materials can be probed with polarized synchrotron radiation.
Materials research in the surface science area focuses on fundamental understanding
of the chemistry and physics of phenomena occurring at the surfaces of materials. The
self-assembly and structural properties of nanometre-scale systems at surfaces, and
the interaction of molecules with model surfaces and nanostructures are investigated.
Surfaces patterned on the nanometre scale have a wide range of potential applications
in electronics, nonlinear optics, sensors, catalysis, biotechnology and medicine. The
electronic structure probing of materials is carried out using a variety of techniques
including synchrotron-based spectroscopy and X-ray scattering techniques, X-ray
photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES), Auger electron
spectroscopy (AES), and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS). Surface
characterization and modeling are also carried out using scanning probe microscopy
Theme 5 – Materials Science – Research Report 2010-11 Page 28