PhD Studentship (Sponsored by Lloyds Register Foundation) – Readiness to manufacture with electron beam additive manufacture and beam probing (BeamAssure) technology.

Background

Electron beam additive manufacturing (AM) is a growing technology and is favoured for titanium parts over the more mature laser based AM processes – for every new EB welding machine there are two or three EB AM machines sold. A lengthy/labour intensive calibration procedure must be followed prior to each build to negate build-to-build geometry variations; this is arduous and avoided by users, resulting in undue costs. It should be noted that an EB AM build once started can last ~120 hours and if interrupted or incorrect generates only scrap. The intent is that BeamAssure technology could replace/automate this time consuming/labour intensive calibration, assuring consistent beam quality across the build area, taking only a few minutes to automatically assure build quality. This PhD will focus on the correlation between beam measurements and build performance, requiring many practical experiments and much data assessment. The first year will also include elements of prototype equipment refinement.


Project Outline

One of the challenges for manufacturers seeking to deploy electron beam powder bed additive manufacturing (AM) has been that the machine readiness for manufacture can only be assessed by building a test part; this is wasteful, time consuming and costly. TWI has developed a probe suitable for use at processing powers on any original equipment manufacturers system. The TWI system consists of an array of probe elements and hence characterises the beam at an array of positions across the powder bed. Correlating this information to produce an assessment of the production readiness of the piece of equipment will require data processing tools and analysis to determine tolerance to variation in measured characteristics. It is expected that this research will be carried out in close collaboration with EBAM machine producers and with their clients in or near production.

This project forms part of a wider research programme in Digital Manufacturing aiming to develop intelligent manufacturing systems.

During this project the Student will develop skills and knowledge in:
• Advanced joining,
• Instrumentation of hardware,
• Data capturing and analysis,
• Materials characterisation and analysis.


About Industrial Sponsor
The Lloyd’s Register Foundation funds the advancement of engineer-related education and research and supports work that enhances safety of life at sea, on land and in the air, because life matters. Lloyd’s Register Foundation is partly funded by the profits of their trading arm Lloyd’s Register Group Limited, a global engineering, technical and business services organisation.

About NSIRC
NSIRC is a state-of-the-art postgraduate engineering facility established and managed by structural integrity specialist TWI, working closely with, top UK and International Universities and a number of leading industrial partners. NSIRC aims to deliver cutting edge research and highly qualified personnel to its key industrial partners.

About the University
Lancaster University is a strong and dynamic university with a very highly regarded Engineering Department. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, 91% of research quality and 100% of impact was assessed as being internationally excellent and world leading. Lancaster’s approach to interdisciplinary collaboration means that it has pre-eminent capacity and capability for the integration of Engineering with expertise in the areas of data science, autonomous and learning systems, intelligent automation, materials science and cyber security. The University is developing an ambitious growth plan for Engineering, including investment in staff, doctoral students, equipment and a new building focussed on research themes including Digital and Advanced Manufacturing. Lancaster is the current Times and Sunday Times University of the Year.

Candidate Requirements
Candidates should have a relevant degree at 2.1 minimum, or an equivalent overseas degree in:

• Engineering (Mechanical, Controls, Manufacturing)
• Materials science
• Physics

Candidates with suitable work experience and strong capacity in numerical modelling and experimental skills are particularly welcome to apply. Overseas applicants should also submit IELTS results (minimum 6.5), if applicable.

This collaborative project will involve the majority of time spent at TWI in Cambridge, but there is an expectation that the Student will spend a proportion of their time at Lancaster University.