Sensors for Ultra Thin Membranes

About the Project

This project is part of cohort 3 of the EPSRC CDT in Developing National Capability for Materials 4.0, with the Henry Royce Institute.

A funded PhD scholarship is available to develop sensors for ultra thin membranes supervised by Dr Art Gower, and industrial supervisors Dr Carl Tipton (principal measurement engineer) and Dr Alessandro Abena. The aim is to develop and design new sensors for the digital revolution in industry together with Johnson-Matthey, a science based company.

Background: Ultra-thin membranes are produced in many high tech industries. They are the basis of flexible solar panels and electronics, as well as biosensors for medical diagnostics.

To automate the production of these membranes we need a real-time virtual representation of them. The focus of this project is to create a new sensor for these membranes. You will need to develop a method to create small elastic waves along them, and then measure these waves with lasers or ultrasonics methods. The speed and amplitude of the waves are key to understanding the composition and defects in these membranes. Currently there is a significant amount of waste produced due to manufacturing defects, these sensors can be used to understand the causes and better automate production processes.

You will be on a team including industrial and academic supervisors who will support you. You will lead the experimental work, as well as develop knowledge on machine learning methods. There will also be an opportunity to learn about mathematical modelling. Additionally, you will be part of a world leading Dynamics group at the University of Sheffield.

Enquiries

For general enquiries, please contact doctoral-training@royce.ac.uk.

For application-related queries, please contact Rebecca Milner (rebecca.milner@sheffield.ac.uk).

For project-related queries, please contact the lead supervisor, Dr. Art Gower (a.l.gower@sheffield.ac.uk).

Application Process:

Please note that each partner of the CDT in Materials 4.0 will have their own application process.

The Materials 4.0 CDT is committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. We strongly encourage applications from underrepresented groups.

Application Web Page

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgradapplication/login.do

After the personal details, you need to 'add research course', and select 'Doctoral Training Course', and then 'Developing National Capability for Materials 4.0'.