PhD Opportunities

Title: Constraint effects on creep crack growth behaviour in 316H stainless steel
Description: Life extension of the UK’s advanced gas cooled reactors (AGRs) is dependent on the assurance of the safety of their structural components. As many AGR components operate in the creep range, it is important to understand and to be able to predict creep and creep-fatigue crack growth for real or postulated defects in these components. The main aim of this work is to investigate the effects of constraint (in-plane and out-of-plane) on creep crack growth in 316H steel at 550°C, with particular emphasis on developing an improved understanding of crack growth behaviour in thin section components.

This project is a part of the Nuclear Energy Futures CDT 2020 cohort 

Institution: Imperial College
Supervisor(s): Dr Catrin Davies (ICL), Prof Karam Nikbin (ICL), Prof David Dean (EdF Energy) and Dr Daniel Hughes (EdF Energy)
Sponsor(s): EPSRC and EdF Energy

Title:  Environmental effects on creep crack growth behaviour
Description: Life extension of the UK’s advanced gas cooled reactors (AGRs) is dependent on the assurance of the safety of their structural components. As many AGR components operate in the creep range, it is important to understand and to be able to predict creep and creep-fatigue crack growth for real or postulated defects in these components. The aim of this project is to investigate the creep crack growth behaviour of Type 316H steel in both a pressurised simulated AGR CO2 environment and an inert environment or vacuum to discover the significance of any environmental contributions to creep crack growth in both a laboratory air environment and a pressurised simulated AGR CO2 environment.

This project will be a part of the Nulear Energy Futures CDT 2020 cohort

Institution: Imperial College
Supervisor(s): Dr Catrin Davies (ICL), Prof Karam Nikbin (ICL), Prof David Dean (EdF Energy) and Dr Daniel Hughes (EdF Energy)
Sponsor(s): EPSRC and EdF Energy