Sophia joined the group in July 2021 for her PhD. Originally from Germany, she studied Nuclear Engineering at the University of Birmingham. During her studies, she developed an interest in nuclear fusion and related challenges in finding suitable materials. Her group project on irradiation of tungsten first introduced her to the university\u2019s research environment. In 2020, she carried out an internship with the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to model neutron activation of materials in a fusion environment. This led to her Master\u2019s thesis, in which she conducted a sensitivity analysis to compare neutron activation in different types of steel. In her PhD, Sophia aims to develop a new kind of BCC-superalloy based on the FeNiAl-system, for application in nuclear and high-temperature environments, such as nuclear fusion, Gen-IV fission reactors or gas-turbines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Project: Development of Ferritic Superalloys for Gas Turbines and Nuclear Reactors<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In this project, Sophia is working on developing ferritic BCC superalloys with a \u00df-\u00df\u2019 microstructure, for high-temperature applications. The aim is to investigate the effects of misfit and precipitate size on the alloys\u2019 physical properties, such as creep resistance and ductility, as well as the effect on irradiation resistance. Since the materials in nuclear fission and fusion reactors are subjected to significant amounts of neutron irradiation, it is important to study the effects of such conditions on the material\u2019s microstructure and properties. Using the university\u2019s cyclotron, a selection of alloys will be irradiated with protons to model conditions in a nuclear reactor. Afterwards, nano-hardness and electron microscopy (SEM, TEM) will be used for analysing changes in physical properties and microstructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Techniques employed<\/u><\/strong>: Electron Microscopy (SEM, TEM), EBSD, nano- and micro-hardness<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sophia joined the group in July 2021 for her PhD. Originally from Germany, she studied Nuclear Engineering at the University of Birmingham. During her studies, she developed an interest in nuclear fusion and related challenges in finding suitable materials. Her group project on irradiation of tungsten first introduced her to the university\u2019s research environment. In … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2496,"featured_media":0,"parent":73,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-613","page","type-page","status-publish"],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","ab-block-post-grid-landscape":"","ab-block-post-grid-square":""},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":" Sophia joined the group in July 2021 for her PhD. Originally from Germany, she studied Nuclear Engineering at the University of Birmingham. During her studies, she developed an interest in nuclear fusion and related challenges in finding suitable materials. Her group project on irradiation of tungsten first introduced her to the university\u2019s research environment. In 2020, she carried out an internship with the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to model neutron activation of materials in a fusion environment. This led to her Master\u2019s thesis, in which she conducted a sensitivity analysis to compare neutron activation in different types of steel.…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"","author_info_v2":{"name":"Ross Conway","url":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/M4X\/author\/conwayry\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/M4X\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/M4X\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/M4X\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/M4X\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2496"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/M4X\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/M4X\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":987,"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/M4X\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/613\/revisions\/987"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/M4X\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/73"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/M4X\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}