The RF Bunshah prize at the International Conference on Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films, San Diego, USA, 2005 was awarded based on a paper entitled 'Impact angle effects on the erosion-corrosion of superlattice CrN/NbN PVD coatings' presented at the conference and published in the journal Surface and Coatings Technology.

This award is intended to recognise outstanding research or technological innovation in the areas of interest to the Advanced Surface Engineering Division (ASED) of the American Vacuum Society (AVS) with emphasis on the fields of surface engineering, thin films and related topics.

It was presented to Yashodhan Purandare who carried out the research work as part of his PhD, Professor Margaret Stack, Strathclyde University and Professor Papken Hovsepian, Sheffield Hallam University, co-authors of the paper and supervisors of the project.

The research is part of a collaboration involving the Tribology Research group, University of Strathclyde and the Nanotechnology Centre for PVD Research in Sheffield Hallam University.

The annual R F Bunshah award was created by the conference organisers in 1983 to highlight the best published papers presented at the meeting in honour of Professor Bunshah's innovative achievements in the science and technology of coating deposition. Selection for this award was based on the originality of the contribution, impact to the subject technical area, and the quality of the submitted manuscript.