Dr Adrian Leyland

Dr Leyland's main research interests are plasma-based coatings & treatments for surface engineering and tribology, wear & corrosion of surfaces. Coatings and treatments studied include PVD ceramic, metallic and nanocomposite films and hybrid/duplex substrate pre-treatment by diffusion hardening, plasma electrolysis or interlayering (eg. by electroless plating), to improve coating durability. Practical applications for these processing methods range from tribological (friction and wear), through thermal barriers, to high temperature & aqueous corrosion-control – as well as biomedical, optical and other functional property requirements.

Research topics include:

• PVD metal-alloy nanocomposite and amorphous ‘glassy-metal’ coatings with controlled mechanical properties
• Development of multifunctional PVD ceramic coatings for biomedical applications
• Pre-treatment of light alloys and low-strength ferrous alloys (eg. Austenitic SS) to improve coating load-support and widen tribological applications areas for such materials
• Low-temperature deposition of crystalline oxide films
• Plasma diagnostic studies using OES and mass/energy analysis