Developing Green and Sustainable Electroplating for the Aerospace Industry

Professor Karl Ryder, of the University of Leicester, is a leading academic in the field of electrochemistry. As part of his research he has been developing novel environmentally-friendly methods of electroplating the components used in the aerospace and automotive industry, which currently use hazardous and toxic solvents. AZoM spoke to Karl about the novel solvents his research group are developing for electroplating and electropolishing, and the integral role optical profiling plays in his research.

JW: Please could you introduce our readers to the research you carry out at the University of Leicester?

KR: I’m part of a research group at the University of Leicester that carries out electrochemical and materials based research. Our research is primarily on surface coatings produced using techniques such as metal plating, but we research other metal electro-finishing methods like electro-dissolution and surface etching.

Read more: http://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=12790