Industrial Doctorate Centre (IDC) in Composites Manufacture (Registering University: The University of Nottingham)

Industrial Sponsor: FORMAX (http://www.formax.co.uk/)

Project start date: as soon as possible

As manufacturers of carbon-fibre and e-glass structural fabrics, FORMAX are positioned in the centre of the composites supply chain within the automotive, marine, wind and aerospace industry. We supply into a diverse range of products including many of the world’s high performance production car projects as well as custom, one-off racing yachts. There has been increase in demand for optimized fabric architectures, bespoke to a given process and performance requirement. Additionally there has been an uptake in demand for full material characterization for use in simulation of both composites process and performance.

FORMAX have recently completed a 2 year project with the University of Nottingham to provide an in-house capability to test composite materials using state of the art methods. This EngD project is intended to springboard from this newly developed characterization capability and use it to develop novel simulation techniques, composite processes and laminate structures for use industry.

The project will be customer led: This means there will be a demanding automotive company, yacht manufacturer and sporting goods maker pulling the project to a useful conclusion. The results will enhance our customer’s production processes and finished products, and will further enhance the reputation of FORMAX as a world class supplier. The benefit of this for the successful candidate is exposure to the high performance composites supply chain, from fibre suppler through to end user.

Required skills:

•        Mix of practical and theoretical

•        Composites manufacture (VI, RTM)

•        Composites engineering (laminate theory, ROM, Darcy’s law)

•        Structural engineering (beam and panel theory, failure modes)

•        Testing (knowledge of test standards and methods)

•        FEA and/or other simulation

•        Customer facing, and equally happy to knuckle down and find solutions

A recent article entitled 'Characterization and simulation of structural fabrics - Part 1', published in the journal Reinforced Plastics, reflects much of the background work for the proposed EngD project and can be viewed via the FORMAX advert on the IDC website (http://epsrc-cimc.ac.uk/IDC/AvailableEngDProjects)

The successful candidate will be registered at The University of Nottingham and will be supervised by Professor Andrew Long (The University of Nottingham) and Tom James (FORMAX UK Ltd). The successful candidate will be sited at FORMAX UK Ltd in Leicester.

For further information about the IDC & the EngD programme please visit: http://www.epsrc-cimc.ac.uk/idc

Candidate requirements:

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS PROJECT IS NOT AVAILABLE TO INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS DUE TO TIER 4 VISA REQUIREMENTS.

An upper second-class degree (or equivalent qualification) in an appropriate discipline.

Funding:

Stipend: £20k p.a.

Standard EPSRC studentship eligibility criteria apply:http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/skills/students/help/Pages/eligibility.aspx

How to apply:

If you are interested in applying for this EngD project please send your CV and a covering letter to the IDC at idc<στο>epsrc-cimc.ac.uk

Please quote ref: ENG866                         Closing date: Friday 22nd May 2015