Dr Kathy Christofidou
PhD, MEng, MBA
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Senior Lecturer in Metallurgy & Royce Technology Platform Lead (Materials Discovery & Prototyping)


Full contact details
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
- Profile
-
Katerina (Kathy) Christofidou joined the department in 2019, and is now a Senior Lecturer in Metallurgy. She is currently the departmental UCAS admissions tutor and leads the "Materials Discovery and Prototyping" technology platform for the Royce Institute.
Prior to this, she held roles at the University of Cambridge, as part of the Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre, and the University of Manchester, where she also worked in close collaboration with the Henry Royce Institute.
She holds a PhD in Metallurgy from the University of Cambridge and an MEng in Aerospace Materials Engineering from Imperial College London.
Kathy's research focuses on bridging high performance alloy design and advanced manufacturing following two key strands; a) accelerated. digitalised methods of alloy development with emphasis on manufacturing performance and b) advanced diffraction methods for non-destructive alloy evaluation applied to high performance components.
As part of her collaboration with Rolls-Royce PLC, she has developed new polycrystalline Ni-based superalloys for turbine disc applications, as well as exploring strategies for the design of high-temperature materials amenable to laser-based additive layer manufacturing. Her work in this area was recognised with the 2022 IOM3 Grünfeld Award and Medal highlighting her contributions and impact to industry.
In addition, a major area of her research interests is that of high entropy alloys and the possibilities that these materials offer for expanding our understanding of physical metallurgy beyond a single base element and the associated thermodynamic principles governing this behaviour.
- Research interests
-
- High performance structural metallics including Ni and Co-based superalloys, High Entropy Alloys/Multi-principal element alloys, Cu-based alloys
- Additive Manufacturing
- Alloy design and microstructure engineering
- Advanced Diffraction Techniques
- Digital Metallurgy and High throughput testing methodologies
- Publications
-
Journal articles
- Controlling grain structure in metallic additive manufacturing using a versatile, inexpensive process control system. Scientific Reports, 13.
- Data on the effect of NbC inoculants on the elastic and microstructural evolution of LBP-DED IN718. Data in Brief, 109299-109299.
- Tools for the assessment of the laser printability of nickel superalloys. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A.
- Insights in α-Al2O3 degradation in multilayer CVD coated carbide tools when turning IN718. Wear, 204786-204786.
- Effect of NbC Inoculants on the Elastic Properties and Microstructure of Additively Manufactured IN718. Materialia, 101701-101701.
- Hardness variation in inconel 718 produced by laser directed energy deposition. Materialia, 26.
- Design of a Ni-based superalloy for laser repair applications using probabilistic neural network identification. Data-Centric Engineering, 3.
- Phase stability of the AlxCrFeCoNi alloy system. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 926.
- Bending bad—testing caramel wafer bars (#TestATunnocks). Physics Education, 56(5), 055002-055002.
- The influence of Fe variations on the phase stability of CrMnFexCoNi alloys following long-duration exposures at intermediate temperatures. Intermetallics, 131.
- Microstructural Evaluation of Thermal-Sprayed CoCrFeMnNi0.8V High-Entropy Alloy Coatings. Coatings, 13(6), 1004-1004.
- Correction: Tools for the Assessment of the Laser Printability of Nickel Superalloys. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A.
- The Microstructural Evolution of CM247LC Manufactured Through Laser Powder Bed Fusion. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A.
Preprints
- Controlling grain structure in metallic additive manufacturing using a simple, inexpensive process control system, Research Square Platform LLC.
- Microstructural Control of LPBF IN718 Through Post Processing of Intentionally Placed Am Discontinuity Distributions.
- Hardness Variation in DED Produced Inconel 718.
- Controlling grain structure in metallic additive manufacturing using a versatile, inexpensive process control system. Scientific Reports, 13.
- Professional activities and memberships
-
- Member of the IoM3 Materials Chemistry Committee
- Member of the TMS High Temperature Alloys Committee
- Recipient of funding allocation from the Women in Engineering Visitor Funding Scheme at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
- 2019 Materials travel award