Dr Bill Griffiths

Dr Bill Griffiths

School of Metallurgy and Materials
Associate Professor

Contact details

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

Dr. W. D. Griffiths has been involved in heat transfer and solidification research for the past 30 years. The theme running through this research is the identification and study of the mechanisms that control metallurgical processes. Dr. Griffiths obtained a PhD studying the residual stresses in steel quenched in water-soluble polymer quenchants, and has since worked in both industry and academia on understanding metallurgical processes.

This has included positions at Foseco International working in light alloys, and Nottingham University researching the application of electromagnetic stirring to Direct Chill cast Al. Most recently Dr. Griffiths was the Federal-Mogul Senior Research Fellow at UMIST, researching interfacial heat transfer in light alloy and ferrous casting, and currently works at the University of Birmingham as a Senior Lecturer.

At the University of Birmingham, research has been focussed on five areas;

(1) Interfacial heat transfer, and particularly the enhancement of heat transfer by casting in an atmosphere of He.
(2) Oxide film defects in light alloys, aimed at finding additions to neutralise or ameliorate these defects.
(3) The Lost Foam casting process.
(4) The application of Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT) to the casting process. This is a technique for tracking radioactively labelled particles inserted into liquid metal, with which we collaborate with the Positron Imaging Centre, (Prof. David Parker).

(5). The effect of the application of ultrasound on the properties of light alloy and ferrous castings.

To date, over 100 journal and conference papers have been published.

Qualifications

  • PhD (CNAA), Sheffield Hallam University, 1989

Biography

Dr. W. D. Griffiths has been involved in heat transfer and solidification research for the past 30 years. The theme running through this research is the identification and study of the mechanisms that control metallurgical processes. Dr. Griffiths obtained a PhD studying the residual stresses in steel quenched in water-soluble polymer quenchants, and has since worked in both industry and academia on understanding metallurgical processes.

This has included positions at Foseco International working in light alloys, and Nottingham University researching the application of electromagnetic stirring to Direct Chill cast Al. Most recently Dr. Griffiths was the Federal-Mogul Senior Research Fellow at UMIST, researching interfacial heat transfer in light alloy and ferrous casting, and currently works at the University of Birmingham as a Senior Lecturer.

At the University of Birmingham, research has been focussed on five areas;
(1) Interfacial heat transfer, and particularly the enhancement of heat transfer by casting in an atmosphere of He.
(2) Oxide film defects in light alloys, aimed at finding additions to neutralise or ameliorate these defects.
(3) The Lost Foam casting process.
(4) The application of Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT) to the casting process. This is a technique for tracking radioactively labelled particles inserted into liquid metal, with which we collaborate with the Positron Imaging Centre, (Prof. David Parker).

(5). The effect of the application of ultrasound on the properties of light alloy and ferrous castings.

To date, over 100 journal and conference papers have been published.

Teaching

  • Foundation Year: Properties of Matter
  • 1st Year Undergraduate : Archaeomaterials.
  • 3rd Year Undergraduate : Advanced Metal Processing
  • Postgrad Physics and Technology of Nuclear Reactors MSc: Introduction to Materials

Postgraduate supervision

  • Oxide film defects in cast irons.
  • The reduction in the deleterious effect of oxide film defects by the addition of molybdenum

Research

RESEARCH THEMES

  • Defects in light alloy castings and their effects on properties
  • Radioactive particle tracking using Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT)
  • The effect of ultrasound on light alloy and ferrous alloy properties

Other activities

Dr. Griffiths was President of the Institute of Cast Metals Engineers in 2009-10, chairs their Technical Board, and sits on the Finance and General Purpose Committee, and the Investment Advisory Board. He is also Honorary Treasurer of the Birmingham Metallurgical Association, and their President 2004-2006.

Publications

2017

  • Griffiths, W. D., Caden, A. J., and Chen, Q. (2017), "The Effect of Transition Metal Additions (Mo and W) on Double Oxide Film Defects in an Al-Si-Mg Alloy", In: Materials Science and Technology. 11 p.
  • Li, T., Griffiths, W. D., and Chen, J. (2017), "Weibull Modulus Estimated by the Non-linear Least Squares Method: A Solution to Deviation Occurring in Traditional Weibull Estimation", In: Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A. 48, 11, p. 5516-5528.
  • Chen, Q., and Griffiths, W. D. (2017) "The Effect of Sr Modifier Additions on Double Oxide Film Defects in 2L99 Alloy Castings", In: Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A. 48, 11, p. 5688-5698.

2016

  • W. D. Griffiths, Ahmed El-Sayed and M. A. El-Sayed, (2016), “Whisker formation in Porosity in Al Alloys”, Met. and Mat. Trans. B, Met. and Mat. Trans. B, vol. 47B, 3459–3468.

2014

  • M. A. El-Sayed, H. A. G. Salem, A. Y. Kandeil and W. D. Griffiths, (2014), “Determination of the lifetime of a double oxide film in Al castings”, Met. and Mat. Trans. B, vol. 45B, 1-9.

2012

  • W. D. Griffiths, Y. Beshay, A. J. Caden, X. Fan, J. Gargiuli, T. Leadbeater and D. J. Parker, (2012), “The use of positron emission particle tracking (PEPT) to study the movement of inclusions in low melting point alloy castings”, Met. and Mat. Trans. B, vol. 43B, 370-378.
  • W D Griffiths and M J Ainsworth, (2012), “Hydrogen pick-up during mould filling in the Lost Foam casting of Al alloys”, J. Mat Sci., vol. 47, 145-150.

2010

  • Griffiths W. D., Parker D. J., Fan X. and Hausard M. (2010), “Tracking inclusions in aluminium alloy castings using Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT)”, Mat. Sci. Technol., vol. 26, 528-533.

2008

  • Raiszadeh R. and Griffiths W. D. (2008) “A semi-empirical mathematical model to estimate the duration of the atmosphere within a double oxide film defect in pure aluminium alloy”, , Met. and Mat. Trans. B, vol. 39B, 298-303.

2006

  • Raeiszadeh R. and Griffiths W. D., (2006) “A method to study the history of a double oxide film defect in liquid aluminium alloys”, Met. And Mat. Trans. B, vol. 37, 865-871.

2004

  • Hallam C. P. and Griffiths W. D. (2004) “Interfacial heat transfer in the aluminium gravity die casting process”, Met. and Mat. Trans. B, vol. 35B, 721-733.

View all publications in research portal