Vacant job

About the Workplace

The University of Gävle is one of Sweden's most popular universities.

We offer around 60 educational programs and 330 standalone courses in humanities, health and medicine, social and natural sciences, and technology. We have 19,000 students, 750 employees, and a cohesive campus in beautiful surroundings. Read more about the University of Gävle at www.hig.se (http://www.hig.se)

Job Responsibilities

The Department of Building Technology, Energy Systems, and Environmental Science at the University of Gävle is seeking a PhD candidate to join the project “Innovative Saw Blades for Thinner Cuts via Differential Heat Treatment,” aimed at finding ways to enable thinner saw blades and thus more efficient use of forests through advanced heat treatment.

Your task will be to investigate the possibility of using differential heat treatment as a design option in the development of thinner saw blades. This includes, in addition to heating and cooling technical experiments, the development of models of the heat treatment process, modeling dynamic processes of rotating plates, and material models. We are looking for someone with a master's degree in mechanical engineering, energy systems, or equivalent, with an interest or experience in process and/or material modeling as well as practical experiments and analyses.

The workplace is Gävle, and most of the working hours are campus-based.

Project Description

The Swedish forestry industry produced about 19 million m³ of sawn timber in 2021 and was the world's third-largest exporter of such goods in 2020. Including paper and pulp, Sweden is the fourth-largest exporter of forestry products. In 2021, 80% of the timber was exported, valued at approximately 164 billion SEK. More than half of the logging goes to sawmills that process timber and other products.

For Swedish sawmill companies, the development of thinner circular saw blades with maintained or improved properties is important. The blades consist of a steel core and carbide teeth. The thickness of the cut is determined by the thickness of the core, which must be sufficiently rigid to withstand the forces during cutting. To reduce the cut and the amount of sawdust, a thinner but simultaneously structurally stable steel core is required.

A possible innovation path is differential heating and cooling of the steel core to create a combination of hard martensite and more ductile phases like bainite. Residual stresses from temperature gradients and phase transformations can also be utilized to improve mechanical properties. This requires localized heating, such as induction heating, and advanced cooling like impinging jets, to precisely control heating and cooling rates and manage residual stresses in the steel core.

The PhD position includes:

• conducting the scientific project,
• completing courses equivalent to at least 60 credits,
• teaching and performing administrative tasks,
• regularly participating in academic activities such as seminars and meetings,
• regularly participating in project activities such as meetings, workshops, and visits.

Collaboration with external partners requires both communication and initiative skills.

Qualifications

To be admitted to the doctoral program, the applicant must meet both general and specific eligibility requirements (Higher Education Ordinance, Chapter 7, § 35).

General eligibility is met by those who have obtained a master's degree, completed course requirements of at least 240 higher education credits, of which at least 60 higher education credits at the master's level, or who have otherwise acquired equivalent knowledge within or outside the country.

Specific eligibility for admission to the doctoral program in energy systems is met by those who have obtained a master's degree in energy systems or another area deemed equivalent by the employer. Eligibility is also granted to those who have another master's degree, with at least 60 higher education credits in a relevant area for the doctoral program.

Admission and Assessment Criteria

To be admitted to the doctoral program, the applicant must be assessed to have the ability to benefit from the education (Higher Education Ordinance, Chapter 7, § 35). Admission is based on individual assessment. Read more about doctoral education and our admission and assessment criteria at: www.hig.se/forskning/forskarutbildning (http://www.hig.se/forskning/forskarutbildning)

The job responsibilities require:

• A well-developed ability to work independently and collaboratively in teams.
• The ability to collect and analyze quantitative data and critically assess relevance for tasks in the scientific literature and various databases.
• The ability to teach and perform administrative work.
• Good ability to express oneself in English, both orally and in writing.
• A willingness to seek new knowledge about technology.
• The ability to discuss and explain research to individuals not working in the field, both nationally and internationally.

Knowledge of Swedish is an advantage for the position.

To succeed in your doctoral studies at the University of Gävle, you need to be goal-oriented in your work and have a good ability to conduct scientific practical experiments in a laboratory environment and potentially in the industry.

Conditions

Upon admission to doctoral education, a position as a PhD candidate will be offered (Higher Education Ordinance, Chapter 5, § 3). The position is a fixed-term full-time position (initially one year, which can then be extended for a maximum of two years at a time).

The position is a doctoral position. The total duration of the doctoral period is full-time for five years, considering 20% of the time for institutional duties/teaching. The doctoral education itself comprises four years of full-time studies. (Chapter 5, § 7 of the Higher Education Ordinance).

Contact

Mattias Calmunger, Professor, main supervisor
Tel: +46 70 098 50 58, email: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Mathias Cehlin, Deputy Head of Department
Tel: +46 72 299 53 52, email: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Other

The University of Gävle strives for a balanced gender distribution and actively works for equal opportunities in all parts of the organization.

In preparation for this recruitment, the University of Gävle has made decisions regarding recruitment channels and marketing. Therefore, we kindly ask not to contact media sellers and similar.