Professor Philip Withers
Biography:
Professor Philip Withers obtained his PhD in Metallurgy at Cambridge University and took up a lectureship there, before taking up a Chair in Manchester in 1998. His main interests lie in the application of advanced techniques to assess the structural integrity of engineering materials and components. To this end he has built instruments for residual stress measurement and 3D imaging at central neutron and synchrotron facilities, as well as founding a Unit for Stress and Damage Characterisation in Manchester, work for which he was elected to the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2005. In 2007 he became the founding Director of the University of Manchester Aerospace Research Institute linking over 100 academics within the University with the aim of undertaking cross disciplinary research. In 2010 he set up the Manchester X-ray Imaging Facility combining both lab. X-ray scanners and a beamline at the Diamond Light Source for 3D X-ray imaging across scales from 1m to 50nm which he co-directs with Professor Peter Lee. He was awarded the Royal Society Armourers & Brasiers’ Company Prize for pioneering use of neutron and x-ray beams to map stresses and image components in 2010. In 2012 Phil became the Director of the new BP International Centre for Advanced Materials, aimed at advancing the fundamental understanding and use of materials across a variety of oil and gas industrial applications.
Research interests:
- Nanotomography
- Metal matrix composites (Ti-SiC fibre and Al particulate)
- Laser peening and other life extending surface treatment technologies
- Linear, rotational and stir friction welding of Al, Ni and Ti materials and components
- Crack tip field displacement mapping and crack tip residual stress interactions
- Weld residual stresses, their modelling and mitigation
- Structural integrity of aerospace and nuclear plant
- New residual stress measurement technologies
- Stress related transformations including ferro electric and shape memory transitions
- Powder processing