Professor Aijun Huang’s research covers the entire spectrum of metal additive manufacturing (AM). Research efforts have covered; AM specific alloy design; metal powder manufacturing technology; component design for AM; AM process optimisation; post-AM process development including inspection, qualification, and certification of final AM parts. Conventional physical metallurgy of aerospace materials particularly titanium and Ni-based superalloy has also part of his research portfolio. Prof. Huang’s research group currently has nine postdoctoral research fellows, five professional staff, and ten PhD students.

Prior to his appointment at Monash University, Prof. Huang was an industry technical expert for a number of multinational corporations. Prof Huang held the position of the Executive Vice President of The High Performance Materials Business Unit of the Baosteel Group; a Fortune Global 500 company. As leader of the business unit from 2013-2016, Prof. Huang managed 1300+ employees and supervised production of all aerospace material within the Baosteel Group. Before stepping into the role of Executive Vice President he held the position of Chief Engineer for titanium products in the Baosteel Group central R&D Centre. From 2006 to 2012, Prof Huang was the Titanium Specialist of Rolls Royce Derby. Here, he was elected to the Rolls Royce Engineering Leadership List in 2011; a prestigious training programme for employees with high potential.

Prof. Huang’s extensive industrial experience has significantly supported his academic career. Since joining Monash in 2017, his research has attracted approximately $10m AUD of external funding directly from industry.  His current research projects focus on understanding the process-microstructure-mechanical property relationship in AM. This supports the implementation of AM in various industrial sectors such as aerospace and energy. In addition, he is also leading several industrial research project to develop a hybrid additive manufacturing process; integrating the conventional forging process into additive manufacturing to reduce component cost and improve innovation efficiency.

Prof Huang holds degrees from: BSc, Northeastern University, China; MSc, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China; and PhD, University of Birmingham, UK. He is a Fellow, Chartered Engineer and Chartered Scientist of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining UK. His awards include UK Titanium Research Award 2009 and Vice-Chancellor Award for Enterprise (2017 MCAM Group Award).