Looking for an MPhil opportunity in Materials Science and Chemistry?
The Masters scholarship is available as part of an industry partnership (Linkage Spark Program), supervised by Associate Professor Geoffrey Will and supported by QUT’s Centre for Materials Science.
The proposed project will form a framework for the evaluation of epoxy protective coatings performance and useful life predictions.
As an MPhil research student, you will be looking at an industry relevant high build epoxy coating and a high solvent legacy coating for the investigation of degradation modes using a variety of techniques which will include FTIR, DSC, electrochemistry (electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) and others. This analysis will be used to determine the coatings overall performance in an immersed marine environment and ultimately precede and complement measurements of degradation covered by current industry practice and standards.
The objective will be to provide techniques to better understand the coatings water uptake, leaching characteristics, changes in Tg, mechanical properties and ultimately its ability to prevent corrosion of the underlying metal.