DPhil Student
ben.evans@materials.ox.ac.uk
Ben completed his MEng in Materials Science at Oxford in 2018 with his research project investigating the feasibility of vacuum plasma spraying (VPS) utilising a Y-containing steel feedstock powder for manufacture of fuel rod cladding in nuclear fission reactors.
Now a DPhil student on the Fusion CDT, Ben's current research is ‘Advanced Manufacture and Characterisation of Thick Tungsten Coatings for Nuclear Fusion’, supervised by Prof. David Armstrong and Prof. Patrick Grant. Utilising industrial spraying and sintering technologies manufacture of thick (~4-5mm) tungsten coatings is achievable, but few of the mechanical properties are known or understood. By altering manufacturing parameters, Ben will be using nanoindentation combined with other characterisation techniques to further understand the affect that plasma irradiation has on these coatings and to verify their suitability for use in a nuclear fusion reactor.
