Two Industry Funded PhD Opportunities working on Advanced Elastomer Materials (the first with a Formula 1 Manufacturer, the second with a Global Tyre Company)

Project Details: The successful candidates must have an interest in the design and behaviour of high-performance tyres. The two industrial partners are a Formula 1 manufacturer (based in the UK) and a leading global tyre manufacturer (based in Germany). Both projects are fully sponsored by the industry partners, with whom you will visit regularly as part of the project. This will enable you to become fully embedded in the sponsors research culture. An interest in elastomer composites and the detailed relationships between the microstructure and the resulting tyre properties such as the friction generation, abrasion resistance and the rolling resistance are desirable and will be explored as part of the candidate selection process.

Apply https://mysis.qmul.ac.uk/urd/sits.urd/run/siw_ipp_lgn.login?process=siw_ipp_app&code1=RFQM-J5ZF-01&code2=0016

Project Description

Both projects are to be undertaken in the world leading Soft Matter Group at QMUL under the supervision of Prof James Busfield. This is the largest such research group in the UK university sector. The two projects include:

·      Optimised F1 tyre performance through improved friction models. This project will combine both experimental measurements of the evolution of the friction behaviour in service as well attempt to model this change in behaviour as a function of changes in temperature, pressure, sliding velocity and over time.

·      Unravelling the role of carbon black surface modification on tyre performance. This project will examine new approaches that can be used to tailor the surface chemistry of the carbon black filler found in tyre compounds. This can then result in changes to the polymer filler interaction and the extent of the reinforcement of the tyre materials.