This project will investigate how titanium alloys behave under the extreme thermo-mechanical conditions experienced during linear friction welding (LFW), a critical manufacturing process used in high-value aerospace components. During rapid heating, kinetic processes in titanium alloys cannot fully keep pace with the imposed thermal cycle, resulting in retention of lower-temperature strengthening features at temperatures where equilibrium would predict a significantly softer material state. This leads to substantially higher flow stresses than expected under equilibrium conditions and strongly influences deformation and weld behaviour. Despite the widespread industrial use of LFW, these transient material states remain poorly understood, limiting predictive modelling and constraining the introduction of new materials and process conditions.
The project will develop a semi-automated experimental capability for thermo-mechanical testing under process-representative conditions, combining advanced deformation testing, rapid heating, and full-field diagnostics such as digital image correlation (DIC) and thermography. This will enable systematic exploration of material response across a wide range of temperatures, strain rates, and thermal histories, while generating high-quality datasets for predictive modelling and validation.
Detailed microstructural characterisation will be used to investigate the relationship between thermal history, phase evolution, and flow stress. The project will involve close collaboration with Rolls-Royce and academic partners working on multiscale modelling of welding processes, providing the opportunity to contribute directly to the development of predictive manufacturing approaches for aerospace applications.
The successful student will receive training in high-temperature materials testing, experimental mechanics, advanced diagnostics, and materials characterisation, with opportunities for industrial collaboration, specialist external training, and potential synchrotron-based experiments.
This project is ideally suited to students with interests in materials science, mechanical engineering, experimental mechanics, manufacturing, or high-temperature material behaviour, particularly those interested in combining advanced experimental research with real industrial impact.
This studentship is jointly funded by Rolls-Royce and the Materials 4.0 CDT and is open to Home and overseas students.
Course fees are covered at the level set for UK students (at least £10,470 p.a.). Please note that Overseas students are responsible for paying the difference in Home fees and Overseas fees, for the first year this difference is expected to be £24,230 and is likely to be at least this amount for a further three years. The stipend (tax-free maintenance grant) is at least £21,805 p.a. for the first year, and at least this amount for a further three years.”
For general enquiries, please contact doctoral-training@royce.ac.uk.
For application-related queries, please contact graduate.studies@materials.ox.ac.uk.
For project-related queries, please contact the lead supervisor, David Chapman (david.chapman@eng.ox.ac.uk).
Candidates must submit a graduate application form and are expected to meet the graduate admissions criteria. Details are available on the course page of the University website.
