Arturo Vara Herrera

Areas of expertise

• Surface Engineering

Background

Arturo Vara Herrera is a researcher at the National High Temperature and Surface Engineering Centre, contributing to advancing materials and coatings technologies with an emphasis in aerospace applications. His degree in Aeronautics and Space Engineering from the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) covered a wide range of aerospace engineering branches, including structures, fluid dynamics, materials science, flight mechanics and space systems, and further specialised in aerospace vehicles. Arturo continued his career with an Aerospace Materials MSc at Cranfield University, carrying out two industry-sponsored projects in aero-engine coatings, which led him to push the research in his current role.

Research opportunities

Coating chemistries, especially ceramics: zirconates, rare-earth oxides, aluminates, MCrAlY.

Deposition methods: electron beam physical vapour deposited (EB-PVD), chemical vapour deposition (CVD), physical vapour deposition (PVD) incl. sputtering and HiPIMS, atomic layer deposition (ALD).

Digital post-processing in Excel, Python, Ansys, Fiji (ImageJ), AZtec (+Crystal).

Current activities

Development of low thermal conductivity, electron beam physical vapour deposited thermal barrier coatings for aero-engine applications.

Performance and degradation studies of thermal barrier coatings by erosion testing, isothermal/cyclic oxidation testing, and CMAS attack.

Material characterisation using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), resonant frequency damping analysis (RFDA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray fluorescence (XRF).