Julian Wharton

Biography

Dr Julian Wharton is a Associate Professor within Engineering and the Environment at the University of Southampton.

Research Interest

Tribocorrosion:  Wear resistant materials functioning in corrosive environments and subject to abrasive wear often fail prematurely due to the combined effects of coupling wear (mechanical process) and corrosion (electrochemical process). Wear-corrosion interactions can lead to either an increase or a decrease in the overall mass loss. There are a number of projects which either have  been or are currently under investigation: Tungsten-carbide based sintered hardmetals and sprayed coatings for downhole drilling operations. Metal-on-metal hip replacement CoCrMo alloys. Biocorrosion:  Microbial activity may induce or enhance corrosion reactions.  The deterioration of a metal, either directly or indirectly, as a result of bacterial activity is often called as microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC).  MIC is also known as biological corrosion, biologically induced corrosion and biocorrosion.