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Staff Profile

Dr Peng Gong

MEng, PhD, MIMMM Lecturer in Tribology

  • Email: peng.gong@ncl.ac.uk
  • Address:
    School of Engineering
    Stephenson Building
    Newcastle University
    Newcastle upon Tyne

    NE1 7RU
    UK
Background

Dr Peng GONG is a Lecturer in Tribology and leads the research areas in developing novel high performance steels. She has worked for over 10 years on thermodynamic analysis, microstructures, and mechanical characterization, as well as materials failure analysis, which supports her to develop sustainable materials for applications including aerospace, nuclear reactors, and wind turbines.

Dr Peng GONG joined the Mechanical Engineering and Marine Technology department in Feb, 2023 from Sheffield University. She obtained her MEng Degree from Beihang University in 2009 and her PhD from the University of Sheffield in 2016, before carrying out postdoctoral research at the University of Sheffield.

In 2016, she was awarded the Brunton Medal, the top prize for metallurgical PhD research. In 2021, she was awarded a competitive Early Career Researcher (ECR) grant within the EPSRC SUSTAIN Future Manufacturing Hub, on the design of new reduced activation ferritic/martensitic (RAFM) steels as PI, and EPSRC funded programme on the development of new martensitic steels as Co-I. 


Research

Dr Peng GONG’s main research interests are in the development of new alloys, in particular high performance steels, using characterisation and analysis of microstructures and mechanical properties on the understanding of the relationships between process-microstructure-property. Dr peng GONG’s research interests include 4 areas.

 

High performance steels design and processing

The ability of metallic elements to combine and interact in alloys will influence microstructures and mechanical properties, which are used to design and optimise materials with suitable properties for particular purposes. Within the research to make and process novel alloys, the understanding of the fundamental formation and properties of alloys have been analysed by SEM, TEM, EBSD and XRD, as well as hardness, tensile, fatigue techniques. 

 

Hydrogen embrittlement in steels

A key priority of the UK’s sustainability agenda is zero carbon emissions by 2050. It sets out a cost-effective and economically-productive pathway, resulting in a clean energy economy dominated by renewables like solar, wind, wave and hydrogen instead of fossil fuels and natural gas. At this moment, heating, cooking and industrial processes produce 37% of CO2 emissions from natural gas in the UK. Hydrogen, as an alternative to natural gas, has been identified as a clean energy source that could help bring the world to net-zero emissions in the coming decades, as it burns emitting water vapour. One of the reasons that restrict the widespread use of hydrogen is their efficient transmission. In the research, the understanding of H diffusion and interaction with microstructures and mechanical properties have been analysed with achievement on the hydrogen transportation.


Soft magnetic materials design

Developing soft magnetic materials has always attracted researchers’ attention since the demonstrated electromagnetic induction in 1831, and the first generation of the soft magnetic alloys was produced with adding the lower carbon or Si in the iron steels due to the cheapest cost and balanced magnetic properties. However, the weakness of the first generation magnetic materials is the high eddy current losses of Fe-Si electrical steels and the extremely difficult manufacturing of grain-oriented steels has limited the scope of electrical steels. Other magnetic materials have been developed, such as soft ferrites, amorphous alloys and nanocrystalline alloys. However, all these magnetic materials have issues that restrict them in the next generation of power machines. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find a new generation of soft magnetic materials for next generation electrical machines with lower CO2 emission, higher energy efficiency.


Surface strengthening

Surface strengthening, such as hole cold expansion and shot peening, are the widely used methods to improve components service life through residual stress distribution for better abrasion resistance and fatigue properties. Thus, the technologies are used on different aero engines, fuel cells, vehicles, nuclear reactions and wind turbines, as well as gearbox, under service in harsh conditions, for example, under corrosion, high temperature and high pressure.

 



Teaching

To be updated.

Publications