Supervisor: Professor Anne Neville, RAEng Chair in Emerging Technologies (a.neville@leeds.ac.uk) 

Project Outline:

Surface Engineering is a critical technology, underpinning major sectors including aerospace, automotive, construction, the off-shore industries, power generation and bio-medical applications. Appropriate coatings can solve a diverse array of engineering problems and provide protection against corrosion, wear damage or high temperature, but these can also supply added-value, increasing economic and environmental benefits. Within Surface Engineering technology area, Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) methods offer a wide choice of metallic and ceramic coatings with superior aesthetics and excellent tribological/corrosive performance. PVD technology has been established as a successful and highly efficient industrial technology providing high quality coatings through environmentally friendly and repeatable process.

Polymer substrates are more challenging than metallic substrates for the coating deposition process due to the temperature and conductivity limitations and the scope of that projest is to address these challenges by using novel PVD techniques for the design of durable thin metallic and ceramic films on polymer substrates. The project’s scope has been defined in collaboartion with the industrial partner and will be funded jointly by the company and Engineering and Physcial Sciences Research Coucil (EPSRC).

The PhD programme will be largely experimentally using state-of-the-art PVD facility in School of Mechanical Engineering. The student will gain expertise in plasma physcis, coatings deposition techniques, metallurgy and advanced surface analysis techniques. The student will be well prepared after the PhD for a career in research and development or as a practising materials engineer. 

Qualifications: Minimum of a 2:1 batchelors degree in engineering or any of the physical sciences. A MSc in an appropriate subject will be beneficial.

Eligibility: UK/EU applicants will be eligible for a full award paying tuition fees and maintenance where residency has been establish for more than 3 years  in the UK prior to the start of the course. 

Funding: The stipend will be at the EPSRC rate, currently £13,590 p.a 

Closing date: Friday 15 March 2013 

University, School and Facilities: The University of Leeds is a Russel group university which has an internationally leading reputation in engineering education and reasearch. The School of Mechanical Engineering is in the top 5 schools in the UK and has a very strong reputation for postgraduate education and research in Tribology and Surface Engineering. You will join a vibrant group which has world class facilities for corrosion research. Please see www.leeds.ac.uk/engineering/ietsi  

Enquiries: Informal enquires by e mail or phone, please contact Prof Neville (a.neville@leeds.ac.uk) or +44 113 343 6812. 

How to apply:  You may apply online for research degree study at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/students/apply_research.htm or a Word version may be downloaded from this page.