Jonathan joined TWI in 2005, having obtained a first class honours degree in Metallurgical Engineering and 20 years’ industrial experience designing and building special purpose machine tools for steel and aerospace companies worldwide.
Jonathan is the TWI Technology Fellow for Friction Stir Welding (FSW) and provides R&D and welding engineering consultancy support to TWI Member companies worldwide. He is an active member of IIW Welding Commission III, has sat on three working groups related to friction welding, and is Chair of IIW C-III-B-WG-B6, Friction Stir Welding of Steel. Jonathan also managed the development of a Technical Specification for use in conjunction with BS EN 15085 for the welding of railway vehicles and components. This was the first of a kind and the first railcar manufacturer has now been audited and awarded accreditation.
Jonathan won the 2014 Larke-Lillicrap Award, which was presented by The Welding Institute to the team who has had the most influence or impact upon the practical application of novel welding or joining knowledge or technology. The award-winning project transferred FSW technology and established operational capability for Taiwan shipbuilding. He led the team for one of the two shipyards (Ching Fu Shipbuilding). Activities included baseline FSW training, applications definition, WPS development, machine development, machine build, fixture design and build, machine factory and site acceptance tests, operator training, engineer training, pre-production demos, and DNV WPS qualification.
During his time at TWI, Jonathan has managed numerous welding projects for clients from a range of industry sectors including aerospace, construction, and transport. He has provided consultancy support and successfully delivered projects for marine, railway and aerospace applications. The majority of the project deliveries included consultancy support in the development of technical specifications for specific applications, development and qualification of welding procedures, optimisation of processes/procedures, weld performance evaluation under different environmental conditions, fatigue performance evaluation, and the review of manufacturing documentations including welding procedures.
Since 2008, he has organised and run the International Friction Stir Welding Symposium, which is held every two years and moves around the major FSW user groupings of America, Europe and Asia. This event is held over three days, attracting over 200 delegates from countries from around the world. The technical programme typically contains 90 papers, presented by specialists on all aspects of friction stir welding technology.
He has published/presented over 40 scientific research reports, papers and presentations.
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