Joint industrial PhD studentship in nickel superalloys for extreme environment, next generation power plants.

Applications are invited for a 3.5 year fully funded PhD studentship working under Dr Budhika Mendis in the Department of Physics at Durham University. The project is a collaboration with Doosan Babcock, a multi-national company specialising in engineering services to the energy sector. It is joint-funded by Durham University and Doosan Babcock and includes a stipend of £14,140 per year.

The successful candidate will examine the effect of external conditions (temperature, stress, oxidation etc) on the microstructural evolution of advanced superalloys (e.g.nickel-based) that are specially designed for the next generation of power plants. These plants will operate under extreme environments at high efficiency to reduce carbon emissions by >40%. They are critical to replace ageing infrastructure and meet rising energy demands in Asian economies in the medium term (2040). Several state-of-the-art electron microscopy techniques will be used to characterise the material from micrometer length scales down to a few atoms. The results will be used to guide the materials modelling and design work being carried out Doosan Babcock; occasional visits to the company site at Renfrew is therefore required.

Applicants should have or expect to attain a good first or upper second class honours degree in materials science, physics or related subject.

The closing date for applications is Friday 1st July 2016. However interviews may be held earlier and candidates are advised to apply as soon as possible. Please submit applications electronically via the Durham University, Department of Physics website https://www.dur.ac.uk/physics/postgraduate/prospectivestudents/.

The start date is October 2016. Informal enquiries are welcome and should be directed to Dr Budhika Mendis ([Email Address Removed]).