Prof Michael Reece
BSc, PhD, PGCE, MIMMM, FECerS

 

Research Overview

Field Assisted Processing, Sintering, Energy materials, Functional Materials, Ferroelectrics, Thermoelectrics, Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics, Electromechanical Properties

Interests

His research group is currently focused on the development of field (electric, magnetic and gravity) assisted processing to produce nanostructured, textured, hierarchical and non-equlilibrium functional ceramics, including ferroelectrics,  thermoelectrics and high entropy ceramics. This includes the recently established EPSRC supported MagMat facility for the synthesis and processing of materials in strong magnetic fields (15T). They set up the first Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) furnace in the UK. A longterm objective of his work is to commercialise materials prepared by field assisted processing through knowledge transfer and spin-outs. He is a Director of Nanoforce Technology Ltd, a spin-out company of QMUL. Nanoforce focuses on the development of new, scalable processing routes for sensor, energy and high temperature materials that can be commercialised.  Recent highlights include the development of Flash-SPS and Contactless Flash Sintering processing routes, and the prediction of new high entropy ceramics with properties that go beyond rules of mixtures.