Pedro Rivera
Assistant Director of Research
SKF University Technology Centre
MSc National Autonomous University of Mexico
PhD University of Cambridge
+44 (0)1223 331538
pejr2@cam.ac.uk
www.msm.cam.ac.uk/skf/
Design, modelling and development of new alloys
Our work focuses on developing new principles in physical metallurgy and microstructural modelling to conceive novel technologies, which will hopefully lead to a better quality of life from the point of view of engineering design and the environment.
Development of high performance steels
Combining strength, formability, corrosion and fatigue resistance along with stability at high temperatures is a major challenge in the search for new concepts in the energy and transportation industries. Such a combination of properties can in principle be attained at a low cost by steels. However, this requires the control of their properties and structure over scales ranging from atomic to engineering dimensions. Understanding and manipulating the physical and chemical properties across scales, while developing new steel grades is a major aim of our research.
Modelling and design of engineering alloys
Creating new alloys which display exceptional performance is a task achieved through the development of scientific methods which deal with complexity. The most economical way forward is with the aid of physical and computer modelling. The development of microstructures is governed by rules amenable to mathematical expression. Our models combine thermodynamic, kinetic and atomistic approaches to design new alloys.
- M Huang, PEJ Rivera-Diaz-del-Castillo, O Bouaziz & S. van der Zwaag, “Modelling the strength of ultrafine-grained and nanocrystalline fcc metals” Scripta Materialia 61 1113—1116 (2009).
- M Huang, PEJ Rivera-Diaz-del-Castillo, O Bouaziz & S. van der Zwaag, “Modelling the steady state deformation stress under various deformation conditions using a single irreversible thermodynamics based formulation” Acta Materialia 57 33431—3438 (2009).
- W Xu, PEJ Rivera-Diaz-del-Castillo, S van der Zwaaag, “Designing nanoprecipitation strengthened UHS stainless steels combining genetic algorithms and thermodynamics” Computational Materials Science 44 678—689 (2008).
- PEJ Rivera-Diaz-del-Castillo, “Precipitate coarsening in multicomponent systems” Scripta Materialia 47 113—1117 (2002).