Design, Manufacture and Materials: Research Student Profiles and Projects
Examples of possible PhD project titles
Here are some suggested PhD projects which you may wish to consider when applying to join the School as a postgraduate research student. Please note that this list is under development; it is not exhaustive and other projects may be available.
- Additive Manufacturing for Medical Applications
- 3D Printing of Multimaterial Structures
- Fracture mechanics of composite repair methods for steel structures
- Sub-sea applications of advanced composites
- High temperature performance of aerospace composites
- Nanomaterials for improved bonding of composite repairs
- Composite fire protection
- Thermal transport properties of carbon fibre composites
- Structural survival of aircraft in post-crash fires
Examples of current and recent research student projects
Mohd Shukry Abdul Majid
e-mail: m.s.abdul-majid@ncl.ac.uk
Nationality: Malaysian
Project Title: Performance Envelope of Glass Fibre Reinforced Epoxy (GRE) Pipes
Supervisors: Prof Geoff Gibson, Dr Jack Hale
Funding source: FuturePipe Industries / Malaysian Government
Project Description: Present work is a collaboration project between the Composite Centre of Newcastle University and its industry counterpart from Future Pipe Industries. The main objective is to investigate the long term failure behaviour of GRE pipes under biaxial loading. This research is experimentally based and involved an investigation of the failure envelopes of GRE pipes of realistic diameter over the envelope of axial load and internal pressure combinations. A critical review is also made of the present methods of interpreting long-term stress limits from the short term failure data for composite tubes.
Muhammad Saleh Jumani
e-mail: m.s.jumani@ncl.ac.uk
Nationality: Pakistani
Project Title: Development of rapid manufacturing based mass customisation system for foot orthoses
Supervisors: Prof Kenny Dalgarno
Funding source: Government of Pakistan
Project Description: The need for customised devices, products and treatments is explicit in the medical sector. Applications of rapid manufacturing techniques combined with advanced medical digitising technologies can generate high quality solutions in situations where the need for customisation and low-lead times are very important factors. Foot orthoses are medical devices applied in the treatment of biomechanical foot disorders and foot diseases such as arthritis and diabetes. A significant challenge in the treatment is quick provision of required foot orthosis to avoid pathological changes in the disease. This projects aims to establish a rapid manufacturing based mass customisation system for foot orthoses. The developed system will enable manufacturers to provide customised foot orthoses rapidly in terms of reduced cost, reduced lead-time and improved product.
Examples of recently completed research student projects:
- "Aerospace Composite Material In Fire"
Gaetano la Delfa, awarded PhD May 2010, supervisor Prof AG Gibson - "Population Based Techniques for the Multiple Objective Optimisation of Sandwich Materials and Structures"
Craig Hudson, awarded PhD April 2010, supervisor Dr JJ Carruthers - "Simulation of Wear and Crack Initiation in Line Contact with Thermal Stresses"
I Made Widiyata, awarded PhD March 2010, supervisor Prof A Kapoor - "Dynamic Impact Load to Railway Bridges Induced by Structural Responses and Track Irregularities"
Gunmo Gu, awarded PhD May 2010, supervisor Dr FJ Franklin