Country of Residence
Discipline(s)
Institution
Loughborough University
Wolfson School of Mechanical, electrical and Manufacturing engineering
Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE113TU, UK
Research Interests
Laser-based processing
Diamond and related materials
Advanced materials
Cutting tools
Topics to speak on:
Polycrystalline Diamond cutters – Laser processing – Polycrystalline boron nitride – Cutting tools
Volere e’ potere – If you want you can
Biography
Dr Manuela Pacella is a Senior Lecturer in High-Value Manufacturing in the Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering. She was appointed Programme Director of BEng/MEng Manufacturing Engineering in 2020 and Academic Integrity Lead in 2021. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), Chartered Engineer, Member of the IMechE and MPDS IMechE Mentor.
She holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Nottingham (2014) and a MEng degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Bari (Italy) achieved with summa cum laude. After being awarded her PhD she worked as Application Development Engineer and Advanced Manufacturing Research Engineer for multinational companies such as 3M in Milan (Italy) and Element Six (Harwell Campus, UK).
In 2016 she was appointed Lecturer in Laser Machining at Cardiff University School of Engineering. In 2017 she was nominated for the Blackall Award by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers. She joined Loughborough University in 2017 as a Lecturer in High Value Manufacturing and promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2021.
To date she has acted as primary supervisor of over 5 PhD students, more than 30 UG project students and over 12 MSc students. She served as External Examiner for Research Degree at Birmingham University and as Internal Examiner for several PhD candidates at Loughborough University.
Dr Pacella’s research expertise lies in the field of advanced manufacturing technologies and advanced materials for application in the automotive, aerospace, and biomedical field. Her core knowledge is in the following areas:
- manufacture of 3D complex micro-nano texturing using laser ablation, their metrological and microscopical characterisation
- surface engineering of difficult-to-cut materials such as polycrystalline diamond, polycrystalline boron nitride and other hard composites
- surface modification and functionalisation of cutting tools using novel low-energy shock processing with/without coatings
- evaluation of cutting tools wear performance in application testing for the automotive and aerospace sector