Research Associate in Advanced Characterisation of Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs) After Environmental Degradation

Full-Time and Fixed Term contract until 31 March 2025

Location: South Kensington campus

The project will aim at understanding the characteristics of the environmental degradation suffered by SiC/SiC CMCs in aeroengine representative conditions. SiC/SiC CMCs undergo a series of environmental degradation mechanisms during the aeroengine operation that can affect the in-service performance of the components. The current components are subjected to elevated temperatures and high partial pressures of water vapour which can induce premature failure of the material.

The Research Associate will be in charge of running a variety of characterisation techniques to understand and quantify the effect of environmental degradation in the material. This includes techniques such as Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), Focused Ion Beam (FIB), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS), and meso/micro-mechanical testing.

Key Responsibilities:

Research:

• To run characterisation experiments on different samples to understand the effect of environmental degradation.
• Use data analysis techniques to quantify the extent of degradation in the material.
• To respect, as much as possible, deliverable dates and keep the industrial partner and collaborators informed of progress with regular meetings.
• To analyse results, determine their scientific meaning, and disseminate them through journal publications, conference presentations and reports.
• To maintain accurate and complete records of all experiments and calculations

Essential requirements

• A PhD (or have submitted your thesis before taking up the role) in Materials, Physics, Mechanical Engineering or a closely allied discipline.
• Research skills, as evidenced by peer-reviewed journal publications and/or conference presentations.
• Expertise in sample preparation using focused ion beam (FIB).
• Experience using transmission electron microscope (TEM) including spectroscopy and diffraction techniques.

*Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as Research Assistant within the salary range £40,694 - £43,888 per annum.

For informal enquiries please contact Dr Oriol Gavalda Diaz, o.gavalda-diaz@imperial.ac.uk

HR Division Further guidance may be sought from Darakshan Khan (d.khan@imperial.ac.uk).

For technical issues, please contact: support.jobs@imperial.ac.uk

The College is a proud signatory to the San-Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring and promotion decisions, we evaluate applicants on the quality of their work, not the journal impact factor where it is published. For more information, see https://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-evaluation/

The College believes that the use of animals in research is vital to improve human and animal health and welfare. Animals may only be used in research programmes where their use is shown to be necessary for developing new treatments and making medical advances. Imperial is committed to ensuring that, in cases where this research is deemed essential, all animals in the College’s care are treated with full respect, and that all staff involved with this work show due consideration at every level. http://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-integrity/animal-research/

We are committed to equality of opportunity, to eliminating discrimination and to creating an inclusive working environment for all. We therefore encourage candidates to apply irrespective of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion and belief, gender identity, sex, or sexual orientation. We are an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Disability Confident Leader and a Stonewall Diversity Champion.

Closing date: 03 April 2024

To apply, please click the 'Apply' button.

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