Alfredo Zafra BEng MSc PhD

Alfredo is a senior postdoctoral researcher on hydrogen embrittlement and environment-assisted cracking in the "Hydrogen embrittlement and SCC testing lab", at the Jenking Building of the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford. Before this, he was a research associate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London (2021-2023) and a graduate researcher at the University of Oviedo, where he obtained his PhD in Materials Science in 2021.

During this time, he gained international recognition and was recognised as an exceptional promise by the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) because of his numerous contributions aimed at understanding hydrogen-material interactions in steels and additively manufactured alloys. He is currently dedicated to the development of a new generation of hydrogen-resistant metals using advanced manufacturing techniques, including additive manufacturing and nanofabrication.

• 2023 - Editorial Board Member in Materials Today Communications
• 2023 - Top 3 Poster Prize (+100 posters). European Corrosion Conference EUROCORR 2023
• 2022 - Best Poster Award (+80 posters). International Conference on Metals and Hydrogen
• 2022 - Margarita Salas Postdoctoral Fellowship. Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
• 2022 - Extraordinary Doctoral Prize. University of Oviedo
• 2022 - Best PhD Thesis. Spanish Group of Fracture (GEF)
• 2018 - Predoctoral Fellowship Severo-Ochoa. University of Oviedo
• 2015 - First-Class graduate Research Scholarship. University of Oviedo

Alfredo is passionate about materials science and focuses on developing metals that are resistant to aggressive environments. He is particularly devoted to understanding the interactions between hydrogen and metals and addressing the issue of hydrogen embrittlement. His research involves:

• Hydrogen embrittlement characterization
• Hydrogen diffusivity and trapping measurements (electropermeation and TDS)
• Mechanical testing in different environments (tensile, fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth)
• Microstructural characterisation (SEM and EBSD)
• XRD and texture measurements
• Nanofabrication and additive manufacturing

He conducts his research and supervises students at the "Hydrogen embrittlement and SCC testing lab", located on the ground floor of the Jenkin Building (Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford) and led by Prof Emilio Martínez-Pañeda. 

Please contact Prof Emilio Martínez-Pañeda or Dr Alfredo Zafra for more information or opportunities to join these research endeavours as a summer undergraduate intern, final-year project student, PhD student or postdoctoral researcher.