PhD Studentship in Tribology: Fundamental understanding of water-based lubricants for hydraulic and EV applications – Industrial CASE (ICASE) with Shell

Applications are invited for a research studentship in the field of “Fundamental understanding of water-based lubricants for hydraulic and EV applications”, leading to the award of a PhD degree. The studentship will be based in the Shell-Imperial University Technology Centre (UTC) for Mobility and Lubricants, which is hosted by the Tribology Group in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London. It will be supervised by members of academic staff in the Group including Prof. Daniele Dini, Dr Janet Wong and Prof. Hugh Spikes. The studentship is for 4 years starting in October 2024 and will provide full coverage of standard tuition fees and an annual tax-free stipend of approximately £24,000. This studentship is funded by an EPSRC Industrial Cooperative Awards in Science & Technology (CASE) and industrial partner Shell.  The student will be expected to study at a Shell location for a minimum period of at least 3 months during the studentship and will be offered industrial mentoring throughout the project. At Imperial, the student will be a member of a larger community of Shell-funded researchers in the Tribology Group who are working on lubricants and electric vehicle-related projects, which cover both experimental and modelling techniques across the scales. The Tribology Group at Imperial College is a vibrant, world-leading research group with unparalleled experimental and modelling equipment facilities.

The project is concerned with the development of novel water-based lubricants for EVs and environmentally-friendly hydraulics. The aim of this project is to improve our understanding of and ability to design aqueous lubricants based on polymer solutions in water. Although most liquid lubricants are based on organic hydrocarbons and esters, for many years a few have been based on water. To date these have been used primarily as mining hydraulic fluids (because of their fire resistance) and in metal cutting (due to their superior cooling properties). However, there is now growing interest in using water-based lubricants in a much wider range of applications, including electric vehicle (EV) transmissions, industrial oils and hydraulics. Their excellent cooling properties are important for EVs, but the main desirable features in other applications are their biodegradability and general green credentials.

The main objectives of this project are to study the fundamental aspects that govern the performance of water-based polymer solutions as lubricants. This will be pursued by looking at novel sustainable formulations of polymers to be used to form separating films with characteristics similar to those achieved with the best performing conventional lubricants. We will be adopting our modern experimental techniques, which include very high shear rate viscometry, film thickness measurement rigs and conventional rolling-sliding tribometers as well as in-contact fluorescence to explore the in-contact composition of lubricant films and local viscosity and rheological description of the fluids under consideration. This will be coupled with the use of in-house models that can be employed to explore and predict the behaviour of newly developed fluids in different components and applications of interest to Shell.

You will be an enthusiastic and self-motivated person who meets the academic requirements for enrolment for the PhD degree at Imperial College London. You should hold or expect to obtain a First-Class Honours or a high 2:1 degree at Master’s level (or equivalent) in Mechanical Engineering, another branch of relevant engineering, Materials, Physics, Chemistry or a related science. We expect you to have an enquiring and rigorous approach to research together with a strong intellect and disciplined work habits. An interest in developing new experimental and/or modelling techniques for the discovery of new engineering solutions for the energy transition is essential, as are good team-working, observational and communication skills.

To find out more about research at Imperial College London in this area, go to:

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/tribology/

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/tribology/shell-utc/

http://www.imperial.ac.uk/mechanicalengineering

For information on how to apply, go to:

http://www.imperial.ac.uk/mechanical-engineering/study/phd/how-to-apply/

For further details of the post contact Prof. Daniele Dini, d.dini@imperial.ac.uk or Dr Janet Wong, j.wong@imperial.ac.uk. Interested applicants should send an up-to-date curriculum vitae to them. Suitable candidates will be required to complete an electronic application form at Imperial College London in order for their qualifications to be addressed by College Registry.

Closing date: until post filled