RCSE Research and Collaboration Highlights

Background

The history of the Research Centre in Surface Engineering can be traced back to 1982, when the present RCSE Director established a Surface Engineering Laboratory at the University of Hull. At that time, this was one of only two groups in the UK designated with the Surface Engineering title. Subsequently, the activity grew, and following extensive work within the University and in conjunction with colleagues at Sheffield Hallam and Northumbria Universities, the EPSRC provided substantial Rolling Grant support to the consortium. Since inception, the RCSE has attracted more than £6 million in grants and contracts, and has achieved many noteable research successes. Examples of those successes and innovations are that the RCSE:

• Pioneered the use of plasma-assistance in PVD of Zirconia Thermal Barrier Coatings
• Developed low-pressure, enhanced-plasma diffusion treatments, for improved PVD coating load support
• Pioneered ‘duplex’ (ie. combining PVD sequentially with other treatment processes) and ‘hybrid’ (ie. integrating two or more vacuum plasma processes) processing methods
• Installed a unique (in the UK) Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation (PI³) facility, with hybrid Plasma-Immersion Ion Assisted Deposition (PIAD) capability
• Promulgated the use of nanostructured (particularly nanocomposite) PVD ceramic films, eg. TiAlBN (- a TiAlN/TiB₂ pseudo-binary nanocomposite)
• Pioneered metallic nanocomposite (and ‘glassy’) PVD coatings for combined wear/corrosion resistance and for protection of low-modulus substrate materials
• Initiated a mechanical properties approach to wear prevention (ie. understanding the relative importance of coating hardness and elastic modulus in mitigating wear)
• Introduced novel pulsed-plasma CVD and PIAD coatings for polymeric substrates
• Instigated innovative methods in Plasma Electrolytic Deposition process diagnostics
• Developed innovative tribological test equipment (eg. for impact, galling and multi-pass scratch adhesion testing)
• Introduced the use of Expert System methodologies for coating selection