PhD vacancy (4 years) on thermomechanical fatigue of short fibre-reinforced composites @ Ghent University (Belgium)

Almost all heat exchangers are currently made of metal. A few attempts have been made to make heat exchangers from (fibre-reinforced) polymers. Switching from metal to polymer/composite can have several advantages:

The copper price has increased a lot over the last years, and economical alternatives in polymer might be feasible
In corrosive environments (chemical sector, toxic gases, contaminated fluids), metals do not survive
For domestic applications, the weight of HVAC systems could be strongly reduced, making it possible for a single man to carry the heat exchanger to the desired location in the house
Two major drawbacks of polymer/composite heat exchangers are (i) their limited temperature stability, and (ii) their bad thermal conductivity. By adding conductive fibres to the polymer, the temperature-dependent mechanical properties and thermal conductivity could be improved. Due to the envisaged processing methods, short fibres are more likely to be used than continuous fibres. Up till now, the research on composites for heat exchangers has hardly been explored, and there is a vast potential for attractive applications. Ghent University has been awarded a 4-year research project with 3 UGent research groups involved (groups of thermodynamics, polymer processing and mechanics of composites). There is a large interest from industry as well, who have defined the demonstrators that have to be built at the end of the project. Finally, there is a strong spill-over possible to automotive industry, where short fibre-reinforced composites are used in "under the hood" applications, components close to the engine, exhaust or other high-temperature regions. Their mechanical stability and fatigue performance are crucial properties to predict. Our research group has 1 postdoctoral research fellow for 3 years, and 1 PhD for 4 years. The PhD student will concentrate on the experimental testing of short fibre-reinforced composites for application in heat exchangers. The tasks consist of:

design of a fatigue test set-up for elevated temperatures/pressures
fatigue experiments on short fibre-reinforced composites under realistic loading conditions for heat exchangers
design of online instrumentation and post-mortem inspection for those fatigue tests
static simulations of hot-spot areas in the heat exchangers under thermomechanical loading
The PhD student will be assisted by a postdoctoral research fellow. The research group has also a wide expertise in fatigue testing and finite element simulation at coupon and structural level.

Only candidates with a Master degree should apply. The candidate should have a strong background in experimental mechanics of materials and mechanical design of components, preferably combined with knowledge in testing of composite materials and fatigue.