ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥

Areas of expertise

• Surface Engineering

Background

Dr Luis Isern Arrom is a Senior Research Fellow in High Temperature Surface Engineering at the Centre for Materials at ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ and is also the Technology Platform Lead in Coatings for Extreme Environments at The Henry Royce Institute.

Luis graduated from Industrial Engineering and Materials Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona, Spain, which covered a wide range of engineering disciplines and was focused on Materials Engineering. After a brief stay in the automotive industry in SEAT, he started his doctoral studies in surface engineering at ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ in 2014. He stayed at Cranfield on a post-doctoral position and became Senior Research Fellow in April 2023.

Luis is a Materials Scientist using surface engineering for protection against extreme environments. Many modes of degradation of materials happen on the surface and can be mitigated by modifying the surface properties of the materials. Luis’ contribution to the Centre for Materials is on:

· the understanding of the damage mechanisms responsible for material degradation in extreme environments,

· the development, design and deposition of advanced coatings to protect surfaces against degradation in extreme environments,

· the incorporation of digital tools to analyse damage mechanisms, as well as to design, produce and analyse the protective coatings.

Research opportunities

Luis is interested in extreme degradation mechanisms, such as high velocity particle impingement (erosion) at different temperatures, oxidation at high temperatures exacerbated by thermal cycling and/or presence of high water vapour content, thermal shock, wear, sintering and phase changes at high temperatures, micro- and nano-mechanics of materials including resistance to micro- and nano-impact. Of particular interest are the synergetic effects of one or more of those degradation mechanisms, perhaps in combination with aqueous or hot corrosion, as strategies to combat one mechanism can be antagonistic with another one. One example is the study of material resistance to high velocity (~150 m/s), high temperature (500-900 °C) erosion by solid particles, an environment often found in aviation turbine engines and the boiler of a waste-to-energy plant.

Luis uses his expertise in understanding degradation mechanisms to design protective coatings. He has experience in several coating deposition techniques (Chemical Vapour Deposition – CVD, Electron-Beam Physical Vapour Deposition – EB-PVD, electroplating, brush electroplating…) and is interested in the use of different coating morphologies and microstructures, including advanced coating techniques such as multilayering and co-deposition, as often the coating properties can be tailored by the effect of these extrinsic aspects. One example is the development of advanced chemistries and microstructures in Thermal Barrier Coatings, a protective system that allows turbine blades to survive temperatures above their melting point.

Finally, the use of digital tools is a key enabler for Luis of the tow activities mentioned above. Luis has collaborated with image analysis experts and computer modellers from other centres at Cranfield to better understand the degradation of materials in extreme environments, for example by using advanced image analysis techniques to quantify microstructural changes and by developing FEA models to explain crack propagation during high velocity impact at different temperatures. Luis is also actively pursuing the deployment of advanced digital tools to improve coating deposition processes, both for the capture of key deposition parameters, and also for the development of computer models that simulate and explain the deposition process and can optimise material throughput or coating properties.

Current activities

Luis is a materials scientist with experience and interest in:

Ceramic coatings.

Metallic coatings.

Composite coatings.

Cemented carbides.

Metal alloys.

His main activities cover the design, development, deposition, characterisation and performance testing of coatings for extreme environments. In particular, his main focus has been on Thermal Barrier Coatings for gas turbine engines produced by EB-PVD.

He actively works with diverse coating deposition techniques such as:

Electron-Beam Physical Vapour Deposition (EB-PVD).

Electroplating (including brush plating).

Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD).

Materials characterisation covers also a big part of his workload. Apart from more traditional techniques (microscopy, spectrometry, hardness testing ...), his expertise includes:

Nano-indentation.

Erosion testing.

Thermal cycling.

Tomography.

Abrasion testing.

Testing in high water vapour, such as hydrogen combustion applications.

Clients

Sponsors and partners in current and previous projects include:

SIFCO ASC.

Rolls-Royce plc.

Welding Alloys Group.

Archer Technicoat Ltd (ATL).

Innovate UK and EPSRC.

Micro Materials Ltd.

Thin Metal Films (TMF).

Publications

• Articles in journals
• Books