Professor, Head of School, Deputy Dean - Research

Paul Munroe

Contact Details

Building/Room number: 

E10 / 343

Telephone: 

+61 (0)2 9385 4432

Facsimile: 

+61 (0)2 9385 6565

Email: 

p.munroe@unsw.edu.au

Professional Experience: 

  • Head of School and Professor, School of Materials Science & Engineering, UNSW Sydney, 2013 – present
  • Deputy Dean (Research) – Faculty of Science, UNSW, 2018 – present
  • Director and Professor, Electron Microscope Unit, UNSW Sydney, 2003 – 2013
  • Director and Associate Professor, Electron Microscope Unit, UNSW Sydney, 1998 – 2003
  • Deputy Director and Senior Lecturer, Electron Microscope Unit, UNSW Sydney, 1995 – 1998
  • Senior Lecturer, Monash University, 1994 – 1995
  • Director, Physical Sciences Electron Microscope Unit, UNSW Sydney, 1990 – 1994
  • Research Assistant Professor, Dartmouth College, 1987 – 1990

Education: 

  • Grad. Dip. H. Ed (1998) – UNSW Sydney
  • PhD in Metallurgy and Materials (1987) – University of Birmingham
  • B.Sc (Hons.) in Metallurgy and Materials (1984) – University of Birmingham

Research Contributions: 

Most significant contributions are in the field of microstructure-property relationships in advanced engineering materials. Areas of research include functional thin films, intermetallic alloys, advanced metal-matrix composites, thermal spray materials, surface modification of materials and biochars (see representative publications below)
 
Recognition of this includes: 450+ papers in international journals; 14,000+ citations, career h-index 60, >$20M research funding since 2010, has supervised to completion 10 Higher Degree Students in the past 5 years.

Teaching Contributions: 

Courses taught are in the areas of electron microscopy, deformation and strengthening, semiconductor device fabrication and advanced alloys. Current teaching includes:

MATS3001 – Micromechanisms of Mechanical Behaviour of Metals

Chief Investigator on the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) funded grant – 'A National Approach to Education in Advanced Microscopic Characterisation through Integrated Learning Tools' developing blended learning modules to teach microscopy methods.

Honours, Awards and Memberships: 

  • 1996 – Philips Cowley-Moodie award for Physical Sciences Electron Microscopy
  • 2003  – UNSW Vice-Chancellors Award for Teaching Excellence (with M. Hoffman, A. Crosky & B. Allen)
  • 2007 – Carrick Citation – Carrick Australian Awards for University Teaching (with M. Hoffman, A. Crosky & B. Allen)
  • 2015 – 2017 - ARC College of Experts appointment

Editorial Activities: 

  • Associate Editor – ‘Materials Characterization’ (IF = 2.892)
  • Editorial boards of ‘Microscopy Research and Technique’, 'Journal of Nanomaterials'

Selected Publications: 

 

Professor Paul Munroe - UNSW Sydney

  1. 'FIB-induced Damage in Silicon', by S. Rubanov and P. R. Munroe, J. Microscopy, 214, 213-221, (2004)
  2. 'High transport critical current density and large Hc2 and Hirr in nanoscale SiC doped MgB2 wires sintered at low temperature', S Soltanian, X L Wang, J Horvat, S X Dou, M D Sumption, M Bhatia, E W Collings, P Munroe and M Tomsic, Superconducting Science and Technology, 18, 658-666, (2005)
  3. '3D Microstructural Characterisation Using Focused Ion Beam Tomography', M.D. Uchic, L. Hozler, B. Inkson, E.L. Principe and P.R. Munroe, MRS Bulletin, 32, pp. 408-416 (2007)
  4. 'The roles of passive layers in regulating the electrochemical behavior of Ti5Si3-based nanocomposite films', L. Lu, J. Xu, Z-H Xie and P. Munroe, J. Materials Chemistry A, 1, 2064, (2013)
  5. 'Extremely hard, damage-tolerant ceramic coatings with functionally graded, periodically varying architecture', P.C. Wo, X.L. Zhao, P.R. Munroe, Z.F. Zhou, K.Y. Li, D. Habibi, Z.H. Xie, Acta Mater., 61, 193, (2013)
  6. 'The microstructure and mechanical properties of tantalum nitride coatings deposited by a plasma assisted bias sputtering deposition process', Xu S; Munroe P; Xu J; Xie ZH, Surface and Coatings Technology, vol. 307, pp. 470 - 475 (2016)
  7. 'Studies of Splat Formation of Copper and Copper Aluminium on Ceramic Substrate in Plasma Spray Process', Tran AT T; Hyland MM; Fukumoto M; Munroe P, Journal of Thermal Spray Technology, vol. 25, pp. 55 - 70 (2016)
  8. 'Variations in through-thickness recrystallization and grain growth textures in the Al layers in ARB-processed Al/Al(0.3% Sc) composite sheets', Quadir MZ; Najafzadeh N; Munroe PR, Materials and Design, vol. 93, pp. 467 - 473 (2016)
  9. 'Influence of substrate bias on microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of TiAlSiN thin films deposited by pulsed-DC magnetron sputtering', Cao F; Munroe P; Zhou Z; Xie Z, Thin Solid Films, vol. 639, pp. 137 - 144 (2017)
  10. 'Effect of heating rate and annealing temperature on secondary recrystallization of goss grains in a grain orientated silicon steel', Citrawati F; Quadir MZ; Munroe PR, ISIJ International, vol. 57, pp. 1112 - 1120 (2017)
  11. 'Hierarchical Porous Carbon Spheres for High-Performance Na-O2 Batteries', Sun B; Kretschmer K; Xie X; Munroe P; Peng Z; Wang G, Advanced Materials (2017)
  12. 'Scratch adhesion and tribological behaviour of graded Cr/CrN/CrTiN coatings synthesized by closed-field unbalanced magnetron sputtering', Kabir MS; Munroe P; Zhou Z; Xie Z, Wear, vol. 380-381, pp. 163 - 175 (2017)
  13. 'Medium entropy alloy CoCrNi coatings: Enhancing hardness and damage-tolerance through a nanotwinned structuring',
    F Cao, P Munroe, Z Zhou, Z Xie, Surface and Coatings Technology, vol. 335, pp. 257-264 (2018)
  14. 'The mechanisms and consequences of inorganic reactions during the production of ferrous sulphate enriched bamboo biochars', B Pace, P Munroe, CE Marjo, P Thomas, B Gong, J Shepherd, W Buss, Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis vol. 131, 101-112 (2018)