Professor Ping Xiao

Ping Xiao's research ranges from fabrication of ceramic coatings for aero- engine applications, developing ceramic coatings for nuclear fuel application, to performance studies of ceramic thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) in service. His research group has pioneered in developing impedance spectroscopy to evaluate degradation of TBCs. In addition, his team has studied residual stresses and mechanical properties of TBCs in relation to service conditions of the TBC. Currently, Prof. Xiao's team is involved in a £90 million project on ‘Strategic Affordable Manufacturing in the UK with Leading Environmental Technology (SAMULET) in collaboration with Rolls-Royce and a few top universities in the UK while the research at Manchester is focused on developing the next generation of TBCs for aero-engine applications.

Xiao's group is also developing chemical vapour deposition to fabricate multilayer ceramic coatings on particles for the nuclear energy industry. His team is involved in a €10 million European project on Basic Research for Innovative Fuels Design for GEN IV systems (F-BRIDGE) where his team collaborates with most of top nuclear research organisations, eg. CEA of France, and a few top universities in Europe, such as University of Cambridge and Imperial College. Recently Xiao and his colleagues at University of Manchester and Imperial College have secured funding of £1.16 million from EPSRC, UK, to study ceramics for nuclear fuel applications.

Ping Xiao became a lecturer in Brunel University in 1996, then senior lecturer in 2000 after being at Oxford University as DPhil student and then a research fellow from 1989 to 1996. He joined Manchester University, Materials Science Centre as a Lecturer in 2001 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2003, Reader in 2005, and Professor in 2008.

• Novel fabrication of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs)
• Life performance study of TBCs
• Electrophoretic deposition of ceramic coatings on metal substrates
• Chemical vapour deposition of carbon and silicon carbides
• Non-destructive evaluation of TBCs
• A study of residual stresses and the mechanical characterisation of ceramic coatings on metallic substrates
• Nano-identation of ceramic coatings and thin films on metallic substrates
• Processing and characterisation of coated particles for nuclear fuel applications in high temperature reactors (HTR)

• Lopez-Honorato, E., Meadows, P., Shatwell, R. and Xiao, P. (2010). Characterization of the anisotropy of pyrolytic carbon by Raman spectroscopy. Carbon 48, 881-890.
• Lopez-Honorato, E., Meadows, P. J. and Xiao, P. (2009). Fluidized bed chemical vapor deposition of pyrolytic carbon - I. Effect of deposition conditions on microstructure. Carbon 47, 396-410.
• Meadows, P. J., Lopez-Honorato, E. and Xiao, P. (2009). Fluidized bed chemical vapor deposition of pyrolytic carbon - II. Effect of deposition conditions on anisotropy. Carbon 47, 251-262.
• Zhao, X., He, X., Sun, Y., Yi, J. and Xiao, P. (2009). Superhard and tougher SiC/diamond-like-carbon composite films produced by electron beam physical vapour deposition. Acta Materialia 57, 893-902.
• Yang, F. and Xiao, P. (2009). REVIEW: Nondestructive Evaluation of Thermal Barrier Coatings Using Impedance Spectroscopy. International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology 6, 381-399
• Zhao, X., Langford, R. M., Tan, J. and Xiao, P. (2008). Mechanical properties of SiC coatings on spherical particles measured using the micro-beam method. Scripta Materialia 59, 39-42.
• Ji, C. Z., Lan, W. H. and Xiao, P. (2008). Fabrication of yttria-stabilized zirconia coatings using electrophoretic deposition: Packing mechanism during deposition. Journal of the American Ceramic Society 91, 1102-1109.
• Lan, W. H. and Xiao, P. (2007). Constrained drying of an aqueous yttria-stabilized zirconia slurry on a substrate II: Binary particle slurry. Journal of the American Ceramic Society 90, 2771-2778.
• Zhao, X. and Xiao, P. (2007). Focus effect of photoluminescence piezospectroscopy and its influence on the stress measurement of thermally grown oxide in thermal barrier coatings. Scripta Materialia 57, 683-686.
• Guo, X. Y., Gough, J. and Xiao, P. (2007). Electrophoretic deposition of hydroxyapatite coating on Fecralloy and analysis of human osteoblastic cellular response. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A 80A, 24-33.
• Guo, X. Y., Gough, J. E., Xiao, P., Liu, J. and Shen, Z. J. (2007). Fabrication of nanostructured hydroxyapatite and analysis of human osteoblastic cellular response. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A 82A, 1022-1032.
• He, X., Yi, J., Sun, Y., Xiao, P. and Zhao, X. (2007). Surface hardness enhancement in sp(3)-bonded carbon doped SiC nanocomposite films. Applied Physics Letters 91.
• Karadge, M., Zhao, X., Preuss, M. and Xiao, P. (2006). Microtexture of the thermally grown alumina in commercial thermal barrier coatings. Scripta Materialia 54, 639-644.
• Lan, W. H. and Xiao, P. (2006). Constrained drying of aqueous yttria-stabilized zirconia slurry on a substrate. I: Drying mechanism. Journal of the American Ceramic Society 89, 1518-1522.
• Zhao, X., Hashimoto, T. and Xiao, P. (2006). Effect of the top coat on the phase transformation of thermally grown oxide in thermal barrier coatings. Scripta Materialia 55, 1051-1054.

http://www.materials.manchester.ac.uk/research/groups/ceramicsandglasses/ceramiccoatings/