Professor Moataz Attallah BSc, MSc, PhD, AHEA

• Associate Module in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, The University of Birmingham, 2012.
• PhD (Metallurgy & Materials Science), University of Birmingham, 2007 (Degree conferred 2008).
• MSc (Materials & Manufacturing), The American University in Cairo, 2003.
• BSc Hons (Mechanical Engineering), The American University in Cairo (Egypt), 2001.

Moataz was born in Egypt, attending Orman Experimental Language School in Giza. He received his BSc (highest honours) and MSc in mechanical and materials/manufacturing engineering, 2001 and 2003 respectively, from the American University in Cairo, Egypt. He went on to study for a PhD in Metallurgy and Materials Science from the University of Birmingham between 2003 and 2007. He then worked as a research fellow between January 2007 and June 2010 at the, University of Manchester’s School of Materials with Prof. Michael Preuss. He was a member of the Stress & Damage Characterisation Unit (led by Professor Phil Withers), which is the largest research group in Europe with a research portfolio focused on neutron and synchrotron x-ray diffraction. During that period, Moataz had a brief spell at Osaka University in Japan, where he worked on in-situ confocal microscopy in Prof. Komizo’s laboratory.

From June 2010, he returned to the University of Birmingham as a lecturer in advanced materials processing. He was appointed to a chair in advanced materials processing in August 2014. He leads the Advanced Materials and Processing Lab (AMPLab) www.birmingham.ac.uk/amplab . The group has raised over £15M of research funding since 2010.

Moataz teaches undergraduate and postgraduate modules on advanced manufacturing and aerospace materials.

Moataz has given several TV interviews and delivered lectures (in Arabic and English) on additive manufacturing and career development in different charities across the world (found here, external link).

MSc modules

• Materials and Manufacturing for Space
• Netshape Manufacturing

Undergraduate modules

• High Performance Materials and Advanced Manufacturing

• Anastassia Milleret: 4D printing of magnetic shape memory alloys (DSTL).
• Emily Lewis: Oxidation behaviour of additively manufactured Ni-superalloys (MTC).
• Tugrul Ersoz: Additive manufacturing of NbTi superconductors (Turkish Government).
• Peter Ibrahim: Additive manufacturing of  Titanium Alloys for Medical applications (Newton-Mosharafa)
• Abdulrahman Alqarni: Additive Manufacturing of Ni-superalloys (King Khaled University).
• Talal Al-Shammari: Development of Novel Al-alloys for Additive Manufacturing.
• Daniel Porter: Characterisation, Development and Processing of Reactive Metals (DSTL).
• Alice Appleby: Powder HIPping for nuclear applications (TWI/NSIRC).
• Francesco Careri: Additive manufacturing of high performance Al-alloy heat exchangers (TWI/NSIRC).
• Dina Fouad: Microstructural Control in Additive manufacturing of Ti-alloys (Topological Design CDT and GKN Aerospace).
• Adam Jackson: Diffusion bonding technologies for space and nuclear fusion technologies (MTC).
• Dorothy Tomlinson: Multi-theme additive manufacturing in Ni-superalloys (GKN Aerospace).
• Dominik Bielak: Creep behaviour of controlled microstructures in Ni-superalloys fabricated using additive manufacturing (BAM).

RESEARCH THEMES

1. Laser Net Shape Fabrication (using blown powder and laser powder bed).
2. Additive manufacturing of superelastic materials.
3. Additive manufacturing of stents and drug-delivering implants.
4. Additive manufacturing of soft magnets.
5. Solid-Solid and Liquid-Solid Phase Transformations due to Friction-based Welding (linear friction, inertia, and friction stir) and laser fabrication (blown powder and laser bed) of Ti, Al, Ni, and ferrous alloys.
6. Residual Stress, Micromechanics, and phase transformations Characterisation using Neutron and Synchrotron X-ray Diffraction.
7. Phase Transformations in Ti-Alloys and Ni-superalloys.
8. In-Situ Observation of the Phase Transformations in Metallic Materials using High Temperature Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy.
9. Comparative Quantitative Microstructural Characterisation using electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction for structure-property modelling.
10. Severe Plastic Deformation in Al-Alloys: the consolidation behaviour of nanocrystalline powders, in combination with subsequent equal channel angular processing.
11. Plastic Deformation and Recrystallisation in Al-alloys.
12. Alloy development

RESEARCH ACTIVITY

The current projects are available under the student supervision section. Some of the topics include:

1. Mitigation of Cracking due to Laser Bed Fabrication of Nickel-base superalloys.
2. Microstructural Characteristics of Direct Laser Deposition (DLD) products in steels, Ni-superalloys, and Ti alloys.
3. Netshape Powder HIPping of ODS steels.
4. AM and HIPping of refractory metals.
5. Alloy development Laser Powder Bed Fabrication of Metallic Materials.

Moataz is the Chief Scientific Officer of Amphora Metallicus, a commercial trading division operating under Birmingham Enterprise (UoB’s technology commercialisation company), focusing on advanced manufacturing. The company has undertaken projects with companies in the nuclear, aerospace, space, and materials processing sectors.

Outreach

Moataz was selected as the face of the British Science Festival 2014 at the University of Birmingham, featuring on the festival brochures and street adverts. Moataz delivered talks in science festivals and schools on his research and on being a materials scientist.

Advisory roles

Moataz joined the advisory board of the Advanced Metals Processing theme in the UK’s institute for materials research The Henry Royce Institute in 2021.

Moataz sits on the industrial advisory boards of the following companies:

1. Alloyed Ltd (since 2018, previously OXMET): Alloyed is an Oxford University spinout that focuses on developing new alloys for metal 3D printing technologies.
2. Alinor (since 2022): Alinor is a Finnish start-up company that will create the ‘Amazon’ of advanced materials and products, while maximising the emphasis on sustainability.
3. AliveBioTechnology (since 2022): AliveBioTechnology is a UK-based start-up that works on 3D printing of biocompatible tissue scaffolds.