Dr Tianhong Gu joined the School of Metallurgy and Material in July 2021 as a Research Fellow. She graduated from the University of Cambridge, where she obtained MPhil in Materials Science and Metallurgy in 2014. Her MPhil research project was focused on developing novel Aluminium & Magnesium coating composites for improving high temperature and high corrosion resistant performance. Tianhong then moved on to PhD study at the Imperial College London, receiving PhD in Materials Engineering in 2019. She has made a significant contribution to revealing and understanding creep mechanisms at microscopic scale, correlating strain localisation with recrystallisation and precipitates by using advanced materials characterisation techniques such as EBSD and DIC.
Research interests / Project
Tianhong is interested in developing understanding of microstructure and advanced characterisation techniques, applied to understand metals and alloys in aerospace and nuclear energy applications. She is a specialist in understanding deformation behaviour, microstructure, as well as using electron microscopy. Her research has involved notably developing quantitative scanning electron methods, including tensile, indentation and micropillar compression, and a wide range of advanced characterisation techniques in SEM such as EBSD, DIC, EDX, FIB. Her current research focuses on “Bcc-superalloys” such as Ni, Ti, W, Zr alloys and HEAs within Sandy Knowles’s group aiming at finding solutions to high temperature next-generation nuclear and aerospace applications.
Techniques employed: SEM, EBSD, EDX, FIB, Micromechanical testing, DIC, others.