Research Fellow Sintering (Magnetic Materials)

Salary: Full time starting salary is normally in the range £34,980 to £44,263 with potential progression once in post to £46,974. Grade 7 

Contract Type: Fixed Term contract up to February 2025

Closes: 12^th December 2023

The aim of this role is to create and contribute to the creation of knowledge by undertaking a specified range of activities within the UKRI funded project “Scream”. The successful applicant will work with the Scream consortium and will be responsible for separation, purification and re-sintering of rare earth neodymium iron boron alloys from a range of secondary feedstocks. They will be trained on the bespoke 100 tonne recycling and magnet manufacturing facilities at the University of Birmingham and they will explore the effect of microstructure and alloy design on the magnetic properties of recycled rare earth magnets.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Work alongside members of the MMG to deliver recycled rare earth magnets at commercially viable grades. This includes academic staff, postdocs, PhD students and technicians.
• Coordinate with colleagues at all Scream partner institutions to fulfil the project targets set out within the work package descriptions.
• Analyse a range of end-of-life sintered NdFeB magnet applications and determine suitable processes for removing the magnets from the application.
• To apply the HPMS process to a range of different scrap sources.
• To develop downstream processes to remove impurities from the HPMS alloy powder.
• To produce aligned rare earth compacts using two uniaxial magnetic aligning presses.
• To determine the sintering conditions for a range of different rare earth scrap compositions.
• To use grain boundary engineering to upgrade the magnetic properties of the recycled magnets.
• Compositional analysis (metallic fractions, oxygen and carbon) of the starting materials, the extracted HPMS powder and the final sintered magnets.
• To disseminate research findings for journal publication, as well as additional patents describing the novel approach in the utilisation of recycled NdFeB magnets.
• Develop research objectives and proposals for own or joint research, with assistance of a mentor if required.
• Contribute to writing bids for research funding.

Person Specification

• First degree in relevant subject
• Completed, or near completion of a PhD in relevant subject (or be in possession of equivalent research experience)
• Ideally a strong experimental background and understanding in some of the following areas:
  • Sintering processes
  • Powder processing
  • Glove box technologies
  • Casting processes
  • Hydrogen processing of materials
  • Measurement of physical and magnetic properties of magnetic materials
  • Scanning electron microscopy
• Good interpersonal skills to allow good working relationship with partner institutions
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly
• Ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectively

Informal enquiries to Prof. Allan Walton via a.walton@bham.ac.uk

To download the full job description and details of this position and submit an electronic application online please click on the above ‘Apply’ button.

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