Professor Sandy (Alexander) Knowles MEng, PhD, FHEA, FIMMM

• PhD, Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, 2011-15
• MEng, Materials Science, University of Oxford, 2007-11
• FHEA, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy/Advance HE
• FIMMM - Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining
• FST ‘Foundation Future Leader’ - Foundation for Science and Technology 2020-21 Cohort

Sandy Knowles graduated with a MEng in Materials Science from the University of Oxford in 2011. His master’s research project was on ‘Aluminium matrix composites with nano-ceramic particle additions’ with Prof. M. Galano linked with Materion Aerospace Metal Composites and ALPOCO, developing new high temperature and high wear resistant aluminium metal-matrix-composites.

Sandy then went on to complete a PhD at the University of Cambridge 2011-2015, on ‘Novel refractory metal alloys for ultra-high temperature applications’ with Dr. H. Stone, supported through the EPSRC and Rolls-Royce plc Doctoral Training Centre (DTC).

Following his PhD, 2015-16 he was a postdoc at Imperial College London, on the ‘Designing of Alloys for Resource Efficiency (DARE)’ grant working on ‘High strength titanium alloys’ with Prof. D. Dye.

Sandy was then awarded an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship 2016-17 to develop his “bcc superalloys” for aerospace applications. In 2017 he was awarded a 2-year a EUROfusion Researcher Grant to investigate new nanostructured bcc tungsten superalloys for fusion first wall applications.

Sandy was awarded both a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow and a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow to further develop his bcc superalloys concept toward commercialisation. Titanium, steel and tungsten superalloys are sought to Engineering Resilience to the Extreme Environments of nuclear fusion, generation IV fission and gas turbines. The novel nano-structured alloys being developed target higher temperature capability and irradiation tolerance, which are needed to enable improvements in performance and efficiency. The programme has close industrial partnerships with UKAEA/CCFE, NNL, TIMET and Rolls Royce and international exchanges with ANSTO Sydney, DECHEMA Frankfurt, Max Planck Düsseldorf and ETH Zurich.

Sandy joined the School of Metallurgy & Materials at the University of Birmingham as a Lecturer in Nuclear Materials & EUROfusion Researcher Grant Fellow in 2018 before being awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship (2019-24) and a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (2020-24/27), he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2021, and to Professor in Nuclear Materials in 2024.

Lecture courses:

• 4^th year, 3^rd year & MSc: Irradiation Materials Science
• 3^rd year: Materials for Challenging Environments
• 1^st year: ‘Design for Structural Applications, industrial context lectures ‘Nuclear’, ‘Aerospace’ and ‘Biomaterials’
• Final year project student supervisor: MEng, BEng, MSc MRes
• School Summer Internships Lead

New PhD studentship positions in the group are advertised via findaphd.com.

• Demonstration of novel high temperature zirconium alloys under irradiation for generation-IV fission with National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL)
• Development of Novel Radiation Tolerant W Alloys for Nuclear Fusion with Oxford Sigma
• High throughput combinatorial discovery & demonstration of novel alloys with UKAEA

Sandy’s research has three core themes.

1. β-β’ bcc-superalloys, focused on the design of new bcc refractory metal & beta titanium alloys reinforced with intermetallic bcc-superlattice precipitates. These bcc-superalloys comprise remarkable ultra-fine bulk nano-structures with exceptionally high strengths. These have been demonstrated for the first time within tungsten, molybdenum and titanium ‘bcc superalloys’, with the work also extending to new high temperature steel ferritic superalloys.
2. High entropy alloys (HEAs), or compositionally complex alloys (CCAs), have opened up new design space for the development of advanced alloys that break away from traditional single principal element based systems. The HEA approach is being used to develop new alloys with low neutron cross-section for Gen IV fission fuel clad / ATF & fusion tritium breeder as well as fusion first wall/shielding materials.
3. Functional nano-structured alloys, comprising refined microstructures produced by understanding and controlling phase equilibria through composition & temperature, on which we are demonstrating the power of microstructure length-scale & hierarchy to improve: (3.1) Irradiation damage - using the UoB proton cyclotron & upcoming neutron facilities, (3.2) Hydrogen storage – metal hydrides for enhanced hydrogen capacity & uptake (with Dr Josh Makepeace, UKRI FLF, UoB Chemistry), (3.2) Biomedial titanium implant alloys for antimicrobial resistance (with Dr Sophie Cox, UKRI FLF, UoB Chem Eng).

The COMPASsCO2 European Commission H2020 project seeks improved components and materials performance for advanced solar supercritical-CO2 concentrated solar power (CSP). The project team is composed of twelve members across: Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. Sandy is UoB lead of WP3 (Development of metals), with a focus on Cr-superalloys, micromechanics and s-CO2 corrosion characterisation.