The research activities within the Structural Materials and Integrity Research Centre are focused primarily on the characterisation/behaviour of structural and functional materials, to enable the prediction of component/structure lifetimes.

In order to understand the fundamentals of complex material behaviour, the Centre includes technologists and scientists from a range of disciplines including electrochemistry, mechanical engineering, tribology and metallurgy.

Topics covered within the Centre include

• electrochemical scanning techniques to assess corrosion and durability
• fatigue/fracture and environment-assisted fatigue
• functionalised coatings for anti-corrosion, anti-fouling and anti-biotic applications
• ceramics and tribology
• joining processes, including welding and brazing