The PhD positions are placed at Environmental Inorganic Chemistry and the High Temperature Corrosion Centre (HTC). HTC is a national center of excellence with major Swedish companies (e.g. E.On, Vattenfall and Sandvik) as members.

The position in Atmospheric Corrosion is within the project "Rheocast Mg alloys for weight reduction in vehicles" which is supported by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research.

We are looking for PhD students in the following fields:

Corrosion research for green power:

• Boilers burning Biomass and waste can be used to reduce CO₂ emissions. However, the boilers suffer from severe corrosion because the fireside environment is very aggressive. The main part of the work is directed towards laboratory investigations, investigating corrosion mechanisms in biomass and waste fired boilers. The knowledge about the corrosion mechanisms will be evaluated in full scale commercial boilers in collaboration with company partners. Focus is on how the boiler environment can be mitigated in order to decrease the corrosion attack and thus, increase the power generation efficiency.
• Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) provide high efficiency electricity generation and do not rely on hydrogen as a fuel like most other fuel cell types. Because of the high operating temperature the metallic interconnects suffer from severe corrosion and thus limit the lifetime of the SOFC. We investigate the use of nano coatings to increase oxidation resistance, reduce chromia volatilization and improve other SOFC relevant properties. This project is conducted in collaboration with industry partners i.e. Sandvik SMT and Topsoe Fuel Cells.

High temperature materials for extreme environments

• FeCrAl alloys are used at very high temperatures due to their great corrosion properties. Can these alloys also be used at lower temperatures in aggressive environments, e.g. waste fired boilers? This work is carried out in close collaboration with Kanthal (part of Sandvik), one of the world’s leading producers of this class of materials.

Light metal alloys to reduce CO₂ emission of cars

• MgAl alloys are very promising materials for weight reduction in cars. However, atmospheric corrosion problems have to be solved in order to use materials on a larger scale. This project is performed in cooperation with industry partners e.g. Volvo Cars.

The positions will be placed at Environmental Inorganic Chemistry in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Chalmers. Chalmers is a university of technology in which research and teaching are conducted on a broad front within technology, natural science and architecture. Currently there are approximately 11 000 students and 2 400 employees.

The positions are limited to maximum five years, which corresponds to full-time research studies during four years. In addition, teaching in the undergraduate or masters curriculi at Chalmers could be included corresponding to one year, teaching work distributed over the whole time of the position.

A suitable background is Master of Science in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, Mechanical Engineering or Engineering Physics.

Applicants should be capable of working independently and have good social skills. Good knowledge in English and be able to communicate scientific results orally as well as in written form is required. The applicant is recommended to learn Swedish within a few years.

Environmental Inorganic Chemistry, www.chalmers.se/chem/EN/divisions/environmental-inorganic

High Temperature Corrosion Centre (HTC), www.htc.chalmers.se

For more information, please contact
Professor Lars Gunnar Johansson, phone: +46 (0)31 772 2868, E-mail: lg at chalmers dot se or Professor Jan-Erik Svensson, E-mail jes at chalmers dot se phone: +46 (0)31 772 2863.

The starting date of the positions is flexible.

• SACO: Jan Lindér
• ST: Marie Wenander
• SEKO: Johan Persson

All reachable via Chalmers exchange: +46 31 772 10 00