Teaching

Surface Engineering and Coatings 5

4th/5th Year Cource in Mechanical Engineering

Solid materials interact with their environment through their surface phase. Surface engineering involves the methods and techniques used to alter, characterise and test the properties of material surfaces. Coatings play a major role as they provide the means to develop robust surfaces with special properties in order to not only protect materials from environmental and operational degradation but also to develop new functionalities. Applications include: advanced tribological coatings combining low friction and wear, adhesive coatings for structural engineering, self-cleaning surfaces, antibiofouling coatings.

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The course covers the following topics:

• Surface structure and roughness

• Fabrication of coatings

• Thin polymer films

• Surface metrology and characterisation

• Contact mechanics

• Indentation

• Adhesion and wetting

• Friction and wear

• Lubrication