Docent lecture - Robert Tomkowski

Every engineered surface carries two stories. One records how it was made (the grinding marks, shot-peening dimples, honing cross-hatch, laser-texturing reliefs, or coating signatures) that document every operation the surface has been through. The other predicts how it will perform: the friction, wear, fatigue life, sealing, and thermal behaviour it will deliver in service. Reading both stories with confidence is the central problem of modern surface engineering, and it sits at the intersection of manufacturing science, functional surface design, and intelligent metrology.

This lecture presents an integrated research and education framework built on three interconnected pillars. The first addresses the making of surfaces through conventional and emerging processes, like grinding, shot peening, polishing, gear-process combinations, laser texturing and cladding, advanced coatings, and additive manufacturing. The second engineers surfaces for function, with micro-textured surfaces and end-of-life surface renewal as concrete examples already translated to industrial components through national projects (such as Fun4MEL). The third, and the centre of gravity of the framework, develops multi-modal and AI-driven surface metrology that closes the loop between process control and function prediction, including ongoing work on image-based dimensional metrology, an industrial campaign on failure modes in surface measurements, and a robust methodology for measurement uncertainty.

One governing test runs through every part of this programme: any new technology, process, measurement, or AI, must solve a problem without shifting it elsewhere, and must lower total negative cost relative to the technology it replaces. The lecture concludes with the corresponding education and supervision plan.