Professor Biao Cai PhD, FHEA

School of Metallurgy and Materials
Professor of Sustainable Physical Metallurgy

Contact details

Email: b.cai@bham.ac.uk

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

Biao Cai is a Professor in Sustainable Physical Metallurgy and UKRI Future Leaders Fellow in the School of Metallurgy & Materials, University of Birmingham. He leads the Sustainable Physical Metallurgy Group focuses on processing, recycling and characterization of metallic materials.

Qualifications

PhD in Materials, University of Manchester, 2011-2015.

Biography

Biao obtained a BSc and MSc in Materials from Central South University in China in 2009 and 2011, respectively. He went on to study for a PhD in Materials at the University of Manchester, working on semi-solid deformation of aluminium alloys, and was awarded the degree in 2015. After that, he worked for two years as a post-doc at the University of Manchester on various projects ranging from alloy solidification to magma flow mainly, using state-of-the-art high speed synchrotron X-ray tomography.

Biao joined the School of Metallurgy and Materials at the University of Birmingham in 2017. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2022 and then Professor in 2025.

Teaching

Biao welcomes inquiries regarding the supervision of research projects with an emphasis, but not limited to, on the processing and characterization of metallic materials.

Prospective PhD candidates are encouraged to contact him via email, including a curriculum vitae and a statement of research interests. The statement should outline the applicant’s expertise, specific areas of interest, and the ways in which these align with his research.

Research

Biao leads the Sustainable Physical Metallurgy Group. The Group's research is dedicated to advancing metallic materials that will underpin a more resilient and sustainable future. This research is funded by UKRI, EPSRC, and industrial partners.

Our research spans three key areas:

Metal manufacturing and recycling technologies – improving processes such as casting, additive manufacturing, powder metallurgy, and metal refining to enable sustainable processes, efficient reuse and recycling of metallic materials.
Sustainable alloys for emerging applications – designing and developing new metal alloys with sustainability at the core.
In-situ characterization of physical metallurgy – developing and applying in-situ characterization methods to study the fundamental behaviour of metals.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Yang, Y, Li, X, Tao, X, Cai, B & Dong, H 2025, 'Active screen plasma nitriding of FeCrNiCoMo_0.2 high entropy alloy for combating wear', Journal of Materials Research and Technology, vol. 35, pp. 7282-7291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2025.03.082

Duan, R, Liang, D, Ren, F, Daisenberger, D, Magdysyuk, OV, Luan, J, Jiao, Z, Attallah, MM & Cai, B 2025, 'Mechanical properties and deformation mechanisms of metastable β Ti-12Mo alloy fabricated by in-situ alloying-based additive manufacturing', Additive Manufacturing, vol. 107, 104819. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2025.104819

Tao, X, Yang, Y, Qi, J, Cai, B, Rainforth, WM, Li, X & Dong, H 2024, 'An investigation on nitrogen uptake and microstructure of equimolar quaternary FeCoNiCr high entropy alloy after active-screen plasma nitriding', Materials Characterization, vol. 208, 113593. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2023.113593

Sparks, T, Kuksenko, V, Gorley, M, Hoffmann, J, Chiu, Y-L, Connolley, T, Rieth, M, Wang, Y & Cai, B 2024, 'In-Situ Synchrotron Investigation of Elastic and Tensile Properties of Oxide Dispersion Strengthened EUROFER97 Steel for Advanced Fusion Reactors', Acta Materialia, vol. 271, 119876. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2024.119876

Lu, Y, Turner, R, Fang, C, Wang, F, Brooks, J, Cai, B & Basoalto, H 2024, 'Micro-mechanical testing and microstructure analysis of as-welded and post-weld heat-treated Ti-6Al-4V alloy', Journal of Materials Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-024-10348-6

Tao, X, Yang, Y, Qi, J, Cai, B, Rainforth, WM, Li, X & Dong, H 2023, 'Active screen plasma nitriding of a Si-alloyed FeCrNi medium entropy alloy: High interstitial absorption and an anomalous Si-induced decomposition mechanism in N-expanded austenite', Applied Surface Science, vol. 624, 157137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2023.157137

Ali, MA, Winters, WMW, Mohamed, MA, Tan, D, Zheng, G, Madsen, RSK, Magdysyuk, OV, Diaz‐lopez, M, Cai, B, Gong, N, Xu, Y, Hung, I, Gan, Z, Sen, S, Sun, H, Bennett, TD, Liu, X, Yue, Y & Qiu, J 2023, 'Fabrication of Super‐Sized Metal Inorganic‐Organic Hybrid Glass with Supramolecular Network via Crystallization‐Suppressing Approach', Angewandte Chemie (International Edition) , vol. 62, no. 14, e202218094. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202218094

Song, Z, Boller, E, Rack, A, Lee, PD & Cai, B 2023, 'Magnetic field-assisted solidification of W319 Al alloy qualified by high-speed synchrotron tomography', Journal of Alloys and Compounds, vol. 938, 168691. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2022.168691

Ansari, MA, Crampton, A, Garrard, R, Cai, B & Attallah, M 2022, 'A Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) classification to identify the presence of pores in powder bed fusion images', International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, vol. 120, no. 7-8, pp. 5133-5150. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-022-08995-7

Tachibana, S, Cai, B, Davenport, AJ, Miura, S, Wang, H & Dolbnya, IP 2022, 'Influence of microdefects in rust layer of weathering steel on corrosion resistance from 3D observation by synchrotron X-ray micro tomography', Materials Today Communications, vol. 31, 103219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcomm.2022.103219

Tang, L, Jiang, F, Liu, H, Kabra, S & Cai, B 2022, 'In situ neutron diffraction reveals the effect of Cu micro-alloying on low-temperature tensile properties of TWIP steels', Materials Science and Engineering A, vol. 845, 143211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2022.143211

Tang, L, Jiang, FQ, Wróbel, JS, Liu, B, Kabra, S, Duan, RX, Luan, JH, Jiao, ZB, Attallah, M, Nguyen-Manh, D & Cai, B 2022, 'In situ neutron diffraction unravels deformation mechanisms of a strong and ductile FeCrNi medium entropy alloy', Journal of Materials Science & Technology, vol. 116, pp. 103-120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmst.2021.10.034

Sparks, T, Nguyen-Manh, D, Zheng, P, Wróbel, JS, Sobieraj, D, Gorley, M, Connolley, T, Reinhard, C, Wang, Y & Cai, B 2022, 'Mechanical characterisation of V-4Cr-4Ti alloy: tensile tests under high energy synchrotron diffraction', Journal of Nuclear Materials, vol. 569, 153911. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2022.153911

Tang, L, Magdysyuk, OV, Jiang, F, Wang, Y, Evans, AD, Kabra, S & Cai, B 2022, 'Mechanical performance and deformation mechanisms at cryogenic temperatures of 316L stainless steel processed by laser powder bed fusion: in situ neutron diffraction', Scripta Materialia, vol. 218, 114806. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2022.114806

Song, Z, Magdysyuk, O, Sparks, T, Chiu, Y-L & Cai, B 2022, 'Revealing growth mechanisms of faceted Al₂Cu intermetallic compounds via high-speed Synchrotron X-ray tomography', Acta Materialia, vol. 231, 117903. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2022.117903

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