About the project
This PhD project explores an eco-friendly “flash carbide” coating for extreme wear environments in aircraft landing gear. Through advanced tribological testing and materials damage modeling, it will benchmark this new High Velocity Air Fuel-deposited coating against conventional High Velocity Oxy Fuel alternatives. The findings would benefit the aerospace industry with cost-effective, sustainable, and high-performance coating solutions.
We invite applications for a Ph.D. position focusing on a sustainable ‘flash carbide’ coating for wear-resistance in aircraft landing gear. By leveraging innovative High Velocity Air Fuel (HVAF) thermal spraying and cobalt-free materials, this new coating offers a low-cost, eco-friendly alternative to conventional High Velocity Oxy Fuel (HVOF) carbide-cobalt coatings.
These coatings will experience harsh wear conditions in service, including mechanical abrasion from the pavement and erosion from runway debris. Your Ph.D. research will aim to benchmark the wear performance of sustainable ‘flash carbide’ coating against conventional HVOF coatings using lab-based abrasion and erosion testing. Additionally, you will enhance existing wear models to assess damage and compare performance metrics among various coating alternatives.
The outcomes of this research are relevant to several industries where high wear-resistance is essential, including aerospace and defense sectors. The findings could have a direct impact on key players like Airbus, Rolls Royce, and BAE Systems, who would benefit from more economical, sustainable coatings.
The project will be supervised by Professor Robert Wood, an expert in HVOF wear-resistant coatings and a member of the national Centre for Advanced Tribology, alongside co-supervisor Dr. Isha Gupta, an AeroAstro lecturer with experience in coatings for space applications at MIT.
You will join a dynamic team bridging materials and aerospace engineering, with access to state-of-the-art facilities in both departments, including wear and mechanical testing laboratories. You will get a unique opportunity to collaborate with thermal spraying university laboratories in Sweden, and exposure to cutting-edge research environments and industry practices.
