Corrosion and material failure cost the global economy over $2.2 trillion each year. This Centre for Doctoral Training will train researchers to understand exactly how metals, alloys, composites, and ceramics degrade in extreme environments—high pressure, high temperature, corrosive chemicals, and neutron radiation—so that engineers can design materials with predictable, safe lifetimes. The problem is that current materials are a major constraint across oil and gas, aerospace, nuclear power, and defence sectors. Without better understanding of failure mechanisms, components must be withdrawn early or risk catastrophic failure. If this research succeeds, aircraft could fly longer between maintenance cycles with more fuel-efficient engines; oil and gas could be extracted safely from deeper, hotter reservoirs; and next-generation nuclear reactors could operate at higher temperatures for extended durations. Lightweight alloys and ceramics could also improve vehicle armour and boost fuel efficiency in cars and planes. The training deliberately crosses traditional boundaries—linking metallurgy, chemistry, non-destructive testing, computational modelling, and risk assessment—to produce engineers who can both design new materials and accurately predict when they will fail.
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The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral training in Materials for Demanding Environments will primarily address the Structural Integrity and Materials Behaviour priority area, and span into the Materials Technologies area. The CDT will target the oil & gas, aerospace and nuclear power industrial sectors, as well as the Defence sector. Research and training will be undertaken on metals and alloys, composites, coatings and ceramics and the focus will be on understanding the mechanisms of material degradation. The Centre will instil graduates with an understanding of structural integrity assessment methodologies with the aim to designing and manufacturing materials that last longer within a framework that enables safe lifetimes to be accurately predicted. A CDT is needed as the capability of current materials to withstand demanding environments is major constraint across a number of sectors; failure by corrosion alone is estimated to cost over $2.2 Trillion globally each year. Further understanding of the mechanisms of failure, and how these mechanisms interact with one another, would enable the safe and timely withdrawal of materials later in their life. New advanced materials and coatings, with quantifiable lifetimes, are integral to the UK's energy and manufacturing companies. Such technology will be vital in harvesting oil & gas safely from increasingly inaccessible reservoirs under high pressures, temperatures and sour environments. Novel, more cost-effective aero-engine materials are required to withstand extremely oxidative high temperature environments, leading to aircraft with increased fuel efficiency, reduced emissions, and longer maintenance cycles. New lightweight alloys, ceramics and composites could deliver fuel efficiency in the aerospace and automotive sectors, and benefit personal and vehicle armour for blast protection. In the nuclear sector, new light water power plants demand tolerance to neutron radiation for extended durations, and Generation IV plants will need to withstand high operating temperatures. It is vital to think beyond traditional disciplines, linking aspects of metallurgy, materials chemistry, non-destructive evaluation, computational modelling and environmental sciences. Research must involve not just the design and manufacturing of new materials, but the understanding of how to test and observe materials behaviour in demanding service environments, and to develop sophisticated models for materials performance and component lifetime assessment. The training must also include aspects of validation, risk assessment and sustainability.
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