PhD Studentship in Irradiation Creep of Nuclear Graphite

3.5-year D.Phil. studentship

Supervisors: Prof Dong (Lilly) Liu and Prof David Armstrong

Irradiation creep is a stress induced dimensional change that occurs in nuclear graphite materials under irradiation over a certain range of temperatures. To study irradiation creep, the differences in irradiation induced dimensional changes between stressed and unstressed graphite specimens at different temperatures have to be measured. This requires expensive experiments in test reactors which involves international collaborations over a significant period of time. In this project you will have access to valuable nuclear graphite samples that have been irradiated with and without stress to help understand their irradiation creep behaviour. This project is supervised by Prof. Dong (Lilly) Liu in the Department of Engineering Science and Prof. David Armstrong in the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford supported by industrial supervisors and experts from EDF Energy in the UK.

Irradiation creep is a very important topic in nuclear graphite area, and it is a primary mechanism to alleviate the stresses generated in the graphite components in a nuclear fission reactor core, e.g., the UK advanced gas-cooled reactors. During irradiation creep, there are nano- and micro-scale changes occur in the material that still requires further investigation using advanced experimental and modelling techniques. In this project, the emphasis is on experimental characterisations where the student will be trained and provide access to a range of advanced techniques such as Raman spectroscopy, micro-mechanical testing and 3D tomography imaging. The aim is to establish a reliable bulk creep model of nuclear graphite, and to obtain experimental evidence at smaller length-scales to support the bulk model and hypothesis. In this project, you will be working with a large team in Prof. Liu and Prof. Armstrong’s group of more than 30 researchers and top graphite experts at EDF Energy.

Eligibility

This studentship is open to UK students (full award – home fees plus UKRI standard stipend).

Award Value

University course fees are covered at the level set for UK students (c. £10,070p.a.). The stipend (tax-free maintenance grant) will at least c. £19,237 p.a. for the first year, and at least this amount for a further two and a half years.

Candidate Requirements

Prospective candidates will be judged according to how well they meet the following criteria:

• A first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours (or equivalent) in Engineering, Materials Science or Physics
• Excellent English written and spoken communication skills.
• Strong mathematical and analytical skills
• Willingness to travel and conduct experiments at national/international facilities (expenses will be covered).

The following skills are also highly desirable:

• Strong laboratory-based skills
• Programming skills (Matlab, Python, or similar)

Application Procedure

Informal enquiries are encouraged and should be addressed to Dong.Liu@eng.ox.ac.uk

Candidates must submit a graduate application form (via the ‘Apply’ button above) and are expected to meet the graduate admissions criteria. Details are available on the course page of the University website.

Please quote 25ENGMM_DL3 in all correspondence and in your graduate application.

Application deadline: noon on 3^rd December 2024  

Start date: October 2025

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