Alan Hywel Jones

Alan Hywel Jones, usually Hywel Jones professionally, is a British materials scientist, working on ceramic composites and body armour, tribology, metals, including sustainable use of precious metals and rare-earth elements, and decorative alloys, wear-resistant coatings, materials analysis and ballistics, and friction-stir methods (welding and processing). He has appeared on radio and television to discuss some of his areas of interest.

Early life Jones was born in Wales in 1970, and attended school in Ebbw Vale, about north of Cardiff.

Education and career Academic career Jones studied at the University of Warwick from 1988 to 1997, receiving a BSc in Physics (1991), an MSc in Materials Characterisation (1993), and a PhD titled Synthesis and Tribology of Sialon / TiB2 Ceramic Composite (1997). He then secured a post as a post-doctoral research fellow and worked over three years on an EU-funded project on ultra-hard composites for tribological applications. He was also a recipient of a Yorkshire Forward Award.

Collaborations Jones has worked closely with several fellow scientists and academics, including Anthony Pick, Karen Vernon-Parry, Cóilín Ó Dubhghaill and Maria Hanson.

Consultancy and commercialisation In 2011, Jones co-founded a university spinoff company, XeraCarb Ltd., with Anthony Pick. With headquarters and factory in Barnsley, the company works on silicon carbide composite ceramics, suitable for body armour and kiln linings, among other applications. Following acquisition, the company has since February 2017 operated as part of Capital Refractories, within the CRL Group, with Jones retained as Chief Scientific Officer.

In 2016, Jones co-founded, with Cóilín Ó Dubhghaill and others, Mikana Innovations Ltd., a spin-off based on joint work between Sheffield Hallam University and Rotary Engineering Ltd.; he is today a director. This company produces a hybrid alloy, mikana, based on Japanese craft techniques, suitable for volume production for the making of jewellery and other luxury items, and hollowware.

Advanced materials Jones has worked on a form of "stainless silver" alloy as well as advanced ceramics and the hybrid alloy mikana. The ceramics work has led to material advances in the making of personal armour and kiln lining, while mikana has properties similar to mokume gane while being more manageable and affordable.

Personal life Jones lives in the Sheffield suburb of Crookes.