CASE Industrial Studentships

Industrially Relevant Research

Each year, EPSRC allocates Industrial CASE PhD Studentships for PowdermatriX. These funded awards support a British student undertaking industrially relevant research towards a PhD at any UK university.

The Industrial CASE scheme enables a company to take the lead in defining projects for students and selecting an academic partner of their choice. Projects are jointly supervised by the academic and industrial partners.

The company must provide financial support of around £20,000 over the 3 year studentship. In certain instances, more than one organisation may be able to sponsor a project.

The portfolio of PowdermatriX CASE projects has resulted from widely publicised annual calls for proposals. The PowdermatriX Research Committee’s objective of attracting applications from all comers has proved successful with a mixture of established PowdermatriX partners and newcomers actively involved in projects.

The common features of each project are industrial relevance coupled with technical excellence in the field of particulate engineering and science.

The call for proposals for CASE Awards usually opens in February. If you want more information on future calls contact Stuart MacLachlan on stuart.maclachlan@ceram.com

Current Industrial CASE Projects

We currently have twelve CASE projects evaluating a wide range of topics including from free-form manufacturing, fuel cells, drug delivery and nanoparticulate materials.

The two CASE studentships awarded in 2003 are showing positive results for the sponsors.

Characterisation of Ceramic and Metallic Nanopowders

Sarah Maude at IPTME, Loughborough University, is applying a range of analytical techniques to characterise nano-powder materials prepared by QinetiQ nano-materials using their Plasma preparation route. The challenge is to establish meaningful correlations between measured properties in the final powder and the variables associated with the plasma production route.

Already, Sarah has made two significant contributions. In one instance Sarah's analysis has improved QinetiQ's appreciation of the composition of a given spherical powder thus contributing to the way the product is marketed to target customers.

Sarah has also produced some interesting data on the sintering of a specific oxide which has shown evidence of grain growth during synthesis. This in turn has led to the need for investigations on additives to pin grain boundaries. Once again, this provides useful information for QinetiQ with which they can positively engage with customers when working towards delivery of bespoke materials.

Improved Mechanical Properties of Rapidly Manufactured Parts

Hadi Zarringhalam of Loughborough University’s Rapid Manufacturing Research Group is investigating cutting edge ‘Selective Laser Sintering’ (SLS) ‘Rapid Manufacturing’ technology in an already very successful CASE-funded project through the PowdermatriX Faraday partnership.

The aerospace industry has already benefited greatly by the ability of Rapid Manufacturing to drastically reduce part count and to create previously un-manufacturable geometries, however mechanical properties of parts need to be improved. Hadi has been studying ways to improve the strength and ductility of components for military aircraft by controlling crystallinity and microstructure. Not only have mechanical properties been improved but Hadi’s work is also providing a new fundamental understanding of the science behind SLS technology.

Hadi said “I am thrilled that my work in the Rapid Manufacturing Research Group has generated such beneficial practical results so quickly. There are great possibilities in this field and I hope I will be able to contribute much more in the future”.