Professor Lin has researched the shaping/deformation of metals, including, for example, aluminium and magnesium alloys (150-550°C); ultra-high strength steel panels (480-950°C); and titanium and nickel superalloys(850-1,050°C) for turbine blades. The drivers are accurately predicted geometry, tailored microstructure, freedom from defects, low energy consumption in manufacture and in-service, and reduced carbon footprint. He pioneered the symbiosis of classical mechanics and physical metallurgy by utilising state-variable material descriptions with multiple calibrated ordinary differential equations. This has enabled the simulation of a wide range of high temperature metal forming processes which, in turn, enable the control of key metallurgical states and mechanical properties at key locations within components. His book Fundamentals of materials modelling for metal processing technologies draws heavily from his own research on creating new unified viscoplastic constitutive equations based on dominant mechanisms of deformation, damage, and microstructural evolution of materials for metals processing applications.
Before joining PolyU, he was a professor at Imperial College London and led the research activities in the mechanics of materials, establishing the Metal Forming and Materials Modelling Research Group, which was the largest metal-forming research group in UK universities at the time. The Group received two Imperial President’s Medals, for “Excellence in External Engagement and Partnerships” (2016) and for “Excellence of Research – Outstanding Research Team” (2022). His research results have been recognised and applied in industries worldwide. Four fully industry-sponsored research centres were established at Imperial, of which he was the founding director. Total industry support for the centres has been over HK$250 million.
He has also coordinated a number of large research projects, working with up to 20 partners, the majority from industry, in nine countries and has secured government sponsored research funding of over HK$500 million.
