Alison Jean Davenport is the Professor of Corrosion Science at the School of Metallurgy and Materials, University of Birmingham.

Education

Davenport studied the

Natural Sciences Tripos The Natural Sciences Tripos (NST) is the framework within which most of the science at the University of Cambridge is taught. The tripos includes a wide range of Natural Sciences from physics, astronomy, and geoscience, to chemistry and biology, ...

at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

where she was a member of

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

. She remained there for her graduate studies, earning her PhD in 1987. Her PhD was in

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

, investigating the oxide layers that form on top of metals.

Research and career

Davenport spent eight years as a staff scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, looking at

synchrotron A synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator, descended from the cyclotron, in which the accelerating particle beam travels around a fixed closed-loop path. The magnetic field which bends the particle beam into its closed p ...

X-Ray techniques for corrosion and passivation of

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, ...

s. In 1995 Davenport joined the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

. She was Associate Editor of the Journal of the

Electrochemical Society The Electrochemical Society is a learned society (professional association) based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of electrochemistry and solid-state science and related technology. The Society membership compris ...

between 1995 and 1997. She has carried out several experiments at the

Diamond Light Source Diamond Light Source (or Diamond) is the UK's national synchrotron light source science facility located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire. Its purpose is to produce intense beams of light whose special characteristics ...

and is a member of the I18 working group. She was appointed to at the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

and looked at the relationship between alloy microstructures and localised corrosion chemistry. She developed X-Ray micro-tomography to study the growth of small cracks, allowing her to understand the transition from pits to cracks in metals. She studies the relationship between microstructure and corrosion in stainless steel, titanium and aluminium. She looked at the impact of grain boundary crystallography on intergranular corrosion. Davenport uses X-Ray imaging to study corrosion. This information informs life-time prediction models. She works with

facilities to develop ''in situ'' characterisation techniques to understand the mechanisms of corrosion. Davenport leads an

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to universi ...

(EPSRC) consortium to develop synchrotron methods to look at nuclear waste storage. She has served as an international consultant on nuclear waste storage. She collaborated with Owen Addison on how corrosion impacts biomedical implants. Her group monitor the atmospheric corrosion of stainless steel alloys and have found that morphology is very sensitive to

relative humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...

and residual ferrite. They identified how bipolar plates corrode in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells.

Awards and honours

In 2003 Davenport won the NACE International H. H. Uhlig Award for outstanding efforts in corrosion education. In 2008 she chaired the

Gordon Research Conference Gordon Research Conferences are a group of international scientific conferences organized by a non-profit organization of the same name. The conference topics cover frontier research in the biological, chemical, and physical sciences, and thei ...

in aqueous corrosion. She was made a member of the Innovate UK Advanced Materials Leadership Council and the

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expert group on materials science. She was appointed a professor at the

in 2015. In 2016 she delivered the Birmingham Metallurgical Association lecture. She is on the working group of the Collaborative Computational Project in Tomographic Imaging. She is part of the

Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) is a UK engineering institution whose activities encompass the whole materials cycle, from exploration and extraction, through characterisation, processing, forming, finishing and applicatio ...

and is involved with their women in materials science activities. She was the Head of School of Metallurgy and Materials at the University of Birmingham (2016-2022). Davenport was appointed

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(OBE) for services to electrochemistry in the

2018 Birthday Honours The 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davenport, Alison British materials scientists Women materials scientists and engineers Alumni of the University of Cambridge Academics of the University of Birmingham Year of birth missing (living people) Living people