Professor Phil Prangnell

Phil Prangnell joined the Manchester Materials Science Centre (then part of UMIST) in 1992 after completing his PhD in Metal Matrix Composites at Cambridge University. He was promoted to a chair in Materials Engineering in 2005 and is currently leader of the Engineering and Process Metallurgy group in the School of Materials at Manchester. He has been an active member of the light alloys group for 20 years and is Co-director of the Metallic Systems Doctoral Training Centre in Metallurgy with Sheffield University as well as deputy Director of LATEST2.

His research activities are focused on studying advanced thermomechanical processing and joining techniques for light alloys (mainly aluminium and titanium). In particular, he is interested in understanding and modelling interactions between phase transformations, deformation microstructures, and industrial processes. He has worked extensively with the aerospace industry on developing welding techniques for aerospace alloys. In recent years his welding research had focused on joining dissimilar metals and friction welding, as well as variations on the friction stir welding process (e.g. FSSW, static shoulder FSW, USW etc.). He is also actively engaged in understanding relationships between microstructure and properties in additive manufacturing. He has worked on other areas of aerospace manufacture such as creep-age forming, and has a long standing interest in ultra-high strain deformation. He has on going collaborations with major aerospace companies, including EADS, Airbus, BAE Systems, as well as companies within the supply chain (e.g. Constellium, Siemens, GKN). He has a range of collaborations with the automotive sector and is also working with DSTL and BAE Land systems on aluminium intensive fighting vehicles.

Philip.Prangnell@hw.ac.uk

Materials Science Building-B8, School of Materials, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL

Research Profile