4 year PhD studentship: Surface Driven Technologies for Additive Manufacturing Powders (ENG1377)

Applications are invited for a 4 year PhD studentship within the EPSRC Thematic Doctoral Programme: SiMDisc (Science informed Manufacturing for Scientific Discovery)

Project description

Laser powder-bed fusion (L-PBF) is one of the most promising industrial metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) techniques. In this process, the creation of an object occurs by laser melting of selective areas of thin layers of metallic powders (the “powder bed”). As metallic powders possess intrinsic low absorptivity of the laser light, limited laser-material coupling is observed in practice resulting in significant debits in productivity and material availability for L-PBF. This project will tackle this challenge by investigating new surface chemistries for metallic powders with the aim of increasing their laser absorptivity and, in turn, material processability at a minimal expense of other properties of interest. To achieve this goal, innovative processing routes based on a number of solid-solid and liquid-solid blending techniques developed at the University of Nottingham will be explored and scaled to mass production and industrial applicability. They will benefit from links to national and international partners, including the ETH – Switzerland and Oerlikon (metal powder manufacturer). 

Supervisory Team – Dr Marco Simonelli (Engineering), Dr James Murray (Engineering), Prof Adam Clare (Engineering), Dr Jesum Alvez Fernandes (Chemistry) 

Eligibility

Candidates should have, or expect to obtain, a 1st -class or 2:1 degree in Engineering, Physics, Chemistry or related discipline.

For further information, please email cfam@nottingham.ac.uk quoting the studentship reference and title of the studentship.

How to apply

Please find instruction at: EPSRC Thematic Studentships.  Please mention in your funding application form what project are you interested in.

Closing Date: 19 Jul 2020
Category: Studentships