The University of Nottingham seeks applications for a Research Associate/Fellow to develop a Digital Materials Discovery Lab for the next generation of ceramics for thermal barrier coatings (TBCs)/environmental barrier coating for aerospace and space applications.
The, established in 2021 with multi-million EPSRC funding, hosts a materials discovery apparatus (MDA) for high throughput materials discovery from precursor liquid. With a series of pumps and stepper motors (Raspberry Pi/Arduino), a range of new compositions are developed daily, synthesised in a high-temperature furnace and characterised. The computer-controlled apparatus takes input from a machine-learning platform (Python-based) to produce new compositions. A cobot delivers the material to the furnace or a plasma spray to produce new coatings.
The proposed research is leading-edge and expected to lead to high-quality publications and industrial applications, making this an ideal industrial or academic career training opportunity.
Part of an EPSRC project with 20 industrial and 5 academic partners, this work will focus on integrating the high-throughput MDA with a batch processing high-temperature furnace, associated characterisation technique, and close-loop development of coatings using the high-energy plasma spray. Active learning, Bayesian optimisation, and Graph Neural Networks are core to this exciting project.
Candidates must have an excellent understanding of and preferably direct experience in motor controllers, machine learning, and Python programming skills. The expected split is 50-50 machine learning and automation.
This post is available on a fixed term basis for a period of 24 months. Hours of work are full-time (36.25 hours) ; however applications are also welcome from candidates wishing to work part-time (minimum 25 hours per week).