An investigation of novel lattice structures manufactured by selective laser melting and direct metal deposition.

4 year PhD studentship, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham
EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing

The successful applicant will join the Additive Manufacturing Research Group in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham. This is the largest research group in the field of 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing in the UK and you will have the benefit of working with internationally leading researchers and access to one of the most comprehensive Additive Manufacturing (3D-Printing) laboratory facilities in the world. For more information, please see https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/3dprg/ for more details.

Project description:
It is widely accepted that additive manufacturing (AM) has invigorated the field of cellular structures (also known as lattice structures or porous materials). With AM expanding the ability to tailor cell type, conform to complex external geometries and functionally grade performance across a structure; the potential applications for such structures is growing at a rapid rate. There is now an urgent need to characterize the properties of such structures, investigate the effect of manufacture process on properties and generate new methods of design and optimization.

Researchers in the Additive Manufacturing Research Group at Nottingham have recently invented a new method of creating graded 3D cellular structures that doesn’t require the burdensome definition of complex geometry inherent in current methods. The proposed project aims utilize this method to create a new class of conformal, graded lattice structures.

The student will be expected to demonstrate excellent experimental skills in developing the process and characterizing the structures but should also be able to analyze process, materials and structures and develop suitable theories and/or computational models.

The project will be supervised by Prof Ian Ashcroft and Dr Adam Clare.