Research is organised into four themes. Within those four themes, 9 doctoral students will each have a research project that they are responsible for. Responsibilities will include using results from, and delivering results to, other PhD projects.
The four areas of research, and the nine PhD projects, are as follows.
Computational design and simulation
Computational design and simulation will accelerate the discovery and application of novel materials. These design approach will make extensive use of thermo mechanical models, which aim to gain fundmental knoweldge of the thermo-mechanical processes during meltig, solidification and reheating. In this area:
PhD student 1 will develop Calphad descriptions for the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of tungsten systems, and use these as input to microstructure models to predict phases and grain structure. This student will be based at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
PhD student 2 will utilize the developed data descriptions also in her/his thermo-mechanical model development for detailed numerical simulations of the thermal field during PBF-EB, and prediction of stresses. This student will be based a CIMNE.
Advanced Materials Characterisation
To validate that the computational approaches are powerful tools for materials design and predictive process simulation, a second student will specialise in advanced materials characterisation. The advanced materials characterisation work will include the use of in situ experimental studies, where high energy, high time resolution, data will be captured in synchrotron research facilitites as well as state-of-the-art laboratory instruments. In this area:
PhD student 3 will focus on the characterization of impurity elements and phases using a combination of electron-ion microscopy and APT. This student will be based at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
Process design and in-process monitoring
Powder bed fusion-Electron Beam process development will be enabled by the generation of a digital twin, which includes the heating process, powder sintering and melting. In-process monitoring will then be used to optimse the process paramters and scan strategies in order to ensure the quality of the manufacturered component. Here electron-optical observations (ELO) will be a key technology for in-process monitoring. In this area:
PhD student 4 will work with the MiniMelt sample environment during in-situ experiments as well as experiments in the lab. This student will be based at Hereon.
PhD student 5 will work on PBF-EB process design by simulation applying and adapting an explicit finite differences (FD) scheme for the use of graphical processing unites (GPUs) to allow the high-throughput calculations necessary for optimization of the temperature field. This student will be based at FAU.
PhD student 6 will develop electron optical observation (ELO) for in-process observations of PBF-EB of tungsten. This student will be based at FAU.
PhD student 7 will study, implement and validate novel in-situ methods for EB-PBF process monitoring and optimization towards defect-free tungsten AM. This student will be based at Polimi.
Mechanical behaviour and performanc
Dense, crack free, tungsten components have yet to be produced using the PBF-EB Additive Manufacturing technology. In this project area, approaches for producing components with the desired mechanical behaviours and performance will be explored. Here the use of alloying elements is judged to be promising. In this area:
PhD student 8 will map out the mechanical and thermophysical properties pf tungsten and tungsten alloy samples fabricated by PBF-EB. This student will be based at Comtes.
PhD student 9 will study fatigue at ambient and elevated temperature of PBF-EB processed tungsten. This student will be based at Linköping University.
