Patrick completed a BEng in mechanical engineering at the university of Manchester in 2020. He then joined LightForm a few months later, working with the Advanced Metallic Systems centre for doctoral training, where he studied the metallurgy necessary for his PhD. His PhD project now looks at how cracks form in unusual titanium microstructures, such as ‘abnormally coarse grain structures’ which are very large titanium grains. These large grains affect properties such as strength. This is important because weaker materials allow cracks to form more easily, which influences the lifetime of components. With environmental pressure, having components that last longer, means that environmental and financial cost of maintenance of engineering components, such as aeroplanes, are lower.