Dr. Zhou is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Dundee. He obtained his PhD degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London. Prior to this, he held a BEng degree in Engineering Mechanics from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and MSc degree in Solid Mechanics from Peking University. His PhD study was funded by the President’s PhD Scholarship of Imperial College London, and his PhD thesis was awarded the 'Unwin Postgraduate Prize' by the Department of Mechanical Engineering, in recognition of the best thesis submitted in the academic year 2019. 

Mechanical Engineering Project II (3D Printing)

Thermodynamics I

Computer Aided Design

Manufacturing Project I

My research activities cover the broad area of renewable energy, mechanics of materials, materials processing, and sustainable manufacturing/fabrication, including light alloys, composites and energy materials. A main focus is the investigation of multiphysical phenomena in materials and structures under multi-field (thermal, mechanical, electrochemical, etc) coupling conditions, aiming to address grand challenges in sustainability, environment and health. 

1. Sustainable Manufacturing

I have proposed and led the development of a novel flexible extrusion technique, differential velocity sideways extrusion (DVSE), for manufacturing lightweight streamlined extrusion profiles with superior mechanical properties and applications in sustainable transportation, which minimises the manufacturing defects, cost, and energy consumption compared with the traditional manufacturing methods requiring multiple steps of extrusion and subsequent bending. This technology is also known as Flextrude^®, which has been patented worldwide and will be commercialised by a spin-out company, CurvEx Technology Ltd.

2. Lightweight porous functionally graded materials and structures

To solve the problems of heat short and low strength at high temperature for traditional fasteners used in aerospace thermal protection systems, I designed and fabricated porous ceramic-metal (ZrO₂/(ZrO₂+Ni)) functionally graded materials (FGMs) and composite joints with low thermal conductivity and high strength, whose microstructure, thermal-mechanical performance and failure behaviour were systematically analysed. 

3. Li-ion battery electrode materials and electric vehicles

Diffusion-induced stress in electrode materials of Li-ion batteries during internal static cycling (charging/discharging) and external dynamic loading (e.g. vibration load cases in electric vehicles) is a major factor causing the deformation, fracture and capacity fade of the electrodes. I developed electrochemical-mechanical coupled analytical models to study the diffusion-induced stress field considering concentration-dependent modulus and external unified mechanical loading conditions (tension, compression, and bending). 

• Sustainable/Intelligent manufacturing for lightweight materials and structures
• Materials reuse and recycling
• Composites and structures
• Process - (micro)structure - function relationships 
• Lightweighting in electric vehicles & Life cycle analysis
• Renewable Energy
• Biomaterials, Biomechanics, 3D printing
• Surface engineering

Accepting PhD students

For PhD applications, visiting researchers, postdoc opportunities, and research collaborations, please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]. 

PhD Projects (If you wish to propose your own topic, you are welcome to do so, but please draft a short outline for your research proposal):

• Inkjet printing of high-performance composites for advanced battery and energy storage applications
• Surface modification on metallic biomaterials for biomedical applications
• Sustainable and Intelligent Manufacturing of Metallic Materials and Structures

PhD/Postdoctoral Fellowships:

• Newton International Fellowship
• Marie-Curie Postdoc Fellowship
• EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellowship
• 1851 Research Fellowship
• Postdoc Scholarship funded by the China Scholarship Council (CSC)
• Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship
• Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship
• Welcome Postdoctoral Fellowship
• NERC Independent Research Fellowship

Editorial

• Associate Editor, Heliyon (Mechanical Engineering Section), 2023-2025
• Editorial Board Member, Scientific Reports, 2025-
• Editorial Board Member, Science Progress, 2024-
• Guest Editor, Metals (SCIE, Scopus indexed), Special issue "Sustainable Manufacturing of Metallic Materials and Structures: Design, Processing and Characterization".