Cobalt-based Superalloy Development

Our research cuts across the traditional disciplinary boundaries, and we therefore invite applications for research leading to the PhD degree from scientists and engineers in all appropriate subjects who have an interest in any of our research areas.

The main application sectors addressed by our research are: energy conversion; environmental protection; transport; electronics/optoelectronics; and healthcare. Across all themes the research is carried out with strong support from and involvement of industrial organisations. This close collaboration with industry, alongside our first class facilities, ensures that the Department is at the forefront of Materials Science and Engineering research.

Nickel superalloys used in gas turbine blades and discs are mature and therefore there is an ongoing search for transformative materials that will take us beyond nickel superalloys for the most demanding structural and fatigue applications in gas turbines. Recently, a new ternary Co3(Al,W) phase was discovered, opening the prospect of new superalloys based on the Co-Al-W system.  We have been developing new alloys in this system and are at the point of having a strong, oxidation resistant alloy that is attractive for gas turbine applications.  This project will investigate the behaviour of these alloys in complex creep-fatigue regimes and its underlying deformation mechanisms, using state-of-the-art high resolution TEM, FIB, atom probe, EBSD and major facility neutron and synchrotron X-ray diffraction / spectroscopy.  

Applicants should have or expect to obtain a first or upper second class undergraduate degree or equivalent in Materials Science, Physics, Chemistry or Engineering. The project is suitable for a self-motivated individual with an interest in experimental research and alloy theory. 

The project is sponsored by Rolls-Royce, who will provide a CASE top-up.  Home/EU fees will be paid; EPSRC will only fund a bursary for a home student.