Dr Clive Ponton PhD DIC ARSM MIMMM

Dr Clive Ponton

School of Metallurgy and Materials
Associate Professor

Contact details

Address
School of Metallurgy and Materials
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Clive Ponton is an Associate Professor in the School of Metallurgy and Materials. He is presently teaching-focussed because he is very enthusiastic about teaching materials science (ceramics, metals and polymers) to university students.

He has published over 150 research papers in the field of metallurgy and materials science. He is a co-inventor on 6 patents (2 with Rolls-Royce plc). He has given conference presentations nationally and internationally (including invited talks) in Europe, USA and Japan. His current h-index is 28.

His research at the University of Birmingham has been supported by various industrial companies (for fully funded confidential company research, or partial funding in support of EPSRC/TSB/EU research programmes etc). These companies include Rolls-Royce, Morgan Materials and Sandvik: Government funding agencies such as the Civil Aircraft Research and Technology Demonstration (CARAD) programme, DTI (now TSB), EPSRC and other funding bodies such as the Royal Society and EICF.

Qualifications

  • CEng, 1990
  • MIMMM, 1990
  • PhD and DIC, Materials Science, University of London and Imperial College, 1987
  • BSc(Eng) and ARSM, Metallurgy & Materials, University of London and Imperial College, 1983

Biography

Clive Ponton graduated with a BSc(Eng) and ARSM in Metallurgy and Materials from Imperial College London in 1983.

He went on to do postgraduate research on the Mechanical Properties of Glass-Ceramics in the System CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 and in 1987 was awarded a PhD and DIC from Imperial College/University of London, as well as the 1987 Matthey Prize by the Department of Materials (Imperial College London) for the best PhD thesis. In 1987, he was also directly elected as a Member of the Institute of Ceramics (MICeram) [Institute of Ceramics now subsumed into IOM3].

Clive carried out postdoctoral research as an EPSRC Research Fellow for from 1987 to 1989, working on the development of new bioactive apatite-containing glass-ceramics.

In 1989, he was appointed as a Lecturer in Ceramic Engineering in the School of Metallurgy and Materials at the University of Birmingham.

In 1990, he was awarded the Pfeil Medal and Prize (co-awardee, Prof. RD Rawlings) for published work of particular merit in the field of ceramics:

  • Ponton, C.B. and Rawlings, R.D., 1989. Vickers indentation fracture toughness test Part 1 Review of literature and formulation of standardised indentation toughness equations. Materials Science and Technology, 5(9), pp. 865-872.
  • Ponton, C.B. and Rawlings, R.D., 1989. Vickers indentation fracture toughness test Part 2 Application and critical evaluation of standardised indentation toughness equations. Materials Science and Technology, 5(10), pp .961-976.

In 1990, he was conferred Professional Membership of IOM3 (MIMMM) and Chartered Engineer (CEng) status.

In 1996, he was promoted to Senior Lecturer in the School of Metallurgy and Materials at the University of Birmingham.

Teaching

Undergraduate Degree Programmes

  • BEng Aerospace Engineering
  • BEng Materials Science and Engineering
  • BEng Mechanical and Materials Engineering 
  • BSc Nuclear Science and Materials
  • MEng Aerospace Engineering
  • MEng Materials Science and Engineering
  • MEng Mechanical and Materials Engineering
  • MEng Nuclear Engineering  

Level H (Year 3) Modules

  • High Toughness Ceramics
  • LH Materials for Challenging Environments

Level I (Year 2) Modules

  • LI Fracture, Fatigue and Degradation A

Level C (Year 1) Modules

  • LC Design for Functional Applications 1
  • LC Non-crystalline Materials 1

Postgraduate supervision

Current co-supervision of research PhDs:

  • The role of structure, properties and environmental effects in determining the long-term performance of resin based dental composites (RDC).

Research

Previous Research Interests (presently teaching-focussed)

  • Synthesis / colloidal processing of non-metallic and metallic nanoparticles
  • Development of stable ceramic sols.
  • Electrophoretic deposition of nanoparticles, particularly ceramic particles.
  • Fabrication of Micro- and Nano-Particulate-based structures
  • Development of electrically conductive materials for electrophoretic deposition substrates.
  • Sintering processes in particulate systems.
  • Physical and mechanical properties of ceramic materials
  • High temperature elastic properties and internal friction.
  • Indentation properties including fracture toughness.
  • Nano- and micro-scale science and technology
  • High temperature oxidation.
  • Oxide glaze formation during high temperature bearing wear.

Publications

 Selected Publications

  • “Aqueous electrophoretic deposition as a method for producing an investment casting shell mould ceramic face-coat. Part 1: formation of a carbon-filled investment casting wax electrode material”, Roach, PJ; Ponton, CB. JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE, 48, [21], (2013), pp. 7476-7492. DOI: 10.1007/s10853-013-7562-8.
  • “Investigation into the wear behaviour of Stellite 6 during rotation as an unlubricated bearing at 600 °C”, P.D. Wood; H.E. Evans; C.B. Ponton, TRIBOLOGY INTERNATIONAL, 44, [12], (2011), pp. 1589-1597. DOI: 10.1016/j.triboint.2011.02.011.
  • "Investigation into the wear behaviour of Tribaloy 400C during rotation as an unlubricated bearing at 600 °C" Wood, PD; Evans, HE; Ponton, CB. WEAR 269, [11-12], (2010), pp763-769.
  • "Oxidation of SiC powders for the preparation of SiC/mullite/alumina nanocomposites" He, JY and Ponton, CB. JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE, 43, [12], (2008), pp4031-4041.
  • “Silica glass segregation in 3 wt% LiF-Doped hot-pressed Y2Si2O7” MacLaren, I; Schierholz, R; Trusty, PA; Ponton, CB. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, 90, (2007), pp 3307-3310.
  • “A study of Sm-substituted SrM magnets sintered using hydrothermally synthesised powders” Wang, JF; Ponton, CB; Harris, IR. JOURNAL OF MAGNETISM AND MAGNETIC MATERIALS, 298, [2], (2006), pp122-131.
  • “A study of Pr-substituted strontium hexaferrite by hydrothermal synthesis” Wang, JF; Ponton, CB; Harris, IR.  JOURNAL OF ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS, 403, [1-2], (2005), pp104-109.
  • “Control of the particle size and morphology of hydrothermally synthesised lead zirconate titanate powders” Su, B; Button, TW; Ponton, CB.  JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE, 39, [21], (2004), pp 6439-6447. 
  • “A method of heat-treatment of near gamma-TiAl to enhance oxidation resistance by the formation of a Ti5Si3 layer” Gray, S; Jacobs, MH; Ponton, CB, et al. MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING A-STRUCTURAL MATERIALS PROPERTIES MICROSTRUCTURE AND PROCESSING, 384, [1-2], (2004), pp77-82.
  • “Processing of Al2O3/SiC nanocomposites - part 1: aqueous colloidal processing”  Timms , LA ; Ponton, CB.  JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, 22, [9-10], (2002), pp1553-1567. 
  • “Processing of Al2O3/SiC nanocomposites - part 2: green body formation and sintering” Timms , LA ; Ponton, CB; Strangwood, M.   JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, 22, [9-10], (2002), pp1569-1586.
  • “Hydrothermal processing and characterisation of doped lanthanum chromite for use in SOFCs. Ovenstone, J; Chan, KC; Ponton, CB.  JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE, 37, [15], (2002), pp3315-3322.
  • “Ultrafine SrM particles with high coercivity by chemical coprecipitation” Wang, JF; Ponton, CB; Harris, IR. JOURNAL OF MAGNETISM AND MAGNETIC MATERIALS, 242, [2], (2002), pp1464-1467
  • “Emulsion processing as a novel route to cordierite” Chan, KC; Ovenstone, J; Ponton, CB.  JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE, 37, [5], (2002), pp971-976.

View all publications in research portal