Prof I Kinloch, Dr M Bissett, Prof William Sampson
No more applications being accepted
Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
A fully funded studentship is available for an ambitious materials scientist, chemist or engineer to study the electrical properties of graphene-carbon black-polymer hybrid composites.
Carbon black-filled thermoplastics are used for applications where electrical conductivity is required. However, carbon black’s low aspect ratio means that a high loading is needed to establish conductivity, causing processing issues. The recent commercialisation of graphene and nanotubes brings the opportunity to use a new generation of high aspect ratio fillers. We have shown previously that such fillers behave synergistically for mechanical properties and we will transfer this knowledge to conductive applications. In particular, we will develop a detailed understanding of the processing-structure-property interdependence of these fillers using in-situ, ex-situ and modelling techniques, to predict their behaviour in industrial applications.
This studentship is one of two studentships on the project and will focus on developing theory and simulations for the system of interest, whereas the other position will focus on experimental contributions to the study. You will work with computers to simulate structures and investigate the sensitivity of percolation behaviours to particle geometries and system perturbations. You should enjoy working with computers and, although the work is primarily theoretical, you will be expect to develop an understanding of the experimental methods used by others in the group to yield data against which we wil compare our models.
You will be part of the Advanced Nanomaterials Group (Bissett, Kinloch) and Materials Modelling Group (Sampson) at the School of Materials and National Graphene Institute at the University of Manchester. The Advanced Nanomaterial Group are world leaders in nanocomposites, with publications in nanotube- and graphene-reinforced elastomers, thermosets and thermoplastics, with recent work on hybrid glass fibre-graphene polypropylene composites. The Materials Modelling Group have an international reputation in combined experimental and theoretical approaches to understanding assemblies of particles, from paper fibres to silver nanowire films.
There are over 40 researchers between the two Research groups, a third of which are PDRAs, giving a strong environment in which to support the proposed two PhD students on this project. The groups are highly experienced at applying fundamental research to industrial projects, with current funders including EU, government and industrial partners (Hempel, BAE, Morgan Advanced Materials, etc.)
More details: www.graphenecomposites.co.uk
Further reading on electrical percolation: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2053-1583/aac055/meta
Contact details for further information: [Email Address Removed]; [Email Address Removed]; [Email Address Removed]
Funding Notes
Funding for eligible UK/EU applicants covers tuition fees and minimum annual stipend of £14,777.
Candidates should have at least a 2.1 UK Honours degree (or equivalent) or higher in a Mathematics, Physical Science or Engineering- related discipline. Experience of basic computational methods would be an advantage, though relevant training will be provided.
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