CSIRO Industry PhD Program

One (1).

The student must: 

a) Be an Australian citizen or Permanent Resident, or a New Zealand citizen.   

b) Meet participating university PhD admission requirements. 

c) Meet university English language requirements. 

d) Not have previously completed a PhD.

e) Be able to commence the Program in the year of the offer. 

f) Enrol as a full-time PhD student. Part-time arrangements may be considered if approved by the supervisory team and in accordance with university policy.

g) Be prepared to be located at the project location(s) that the host university has approved and, if required, comply with the host university’s external enrolment procedures. 

h) Be prepared to undergo onboarding to CSIRO, which will include passing mandatory government background checks (allow for between 4 to 8 weeks) and complete any other CSIRO requirements. 

a) Applicants are required to submit an expression of interest (EOI) following the instructions detailed on the participating university’s webpage. 

b) The EOI is assessed by the supervisory team and shortlisted applicants are interviewed. 

c) The supervisory team nominates a preferred applicant and informs iPhD office.

d) The nominated applicant will be instructed to apply. 

e) The application is then assessed by the host university against PhD admission criteria. 

f) The university will issue a letter of offer for the program if all conditions have been satisfied.  

Project description/summary: This Project will develop a model of material dynamics and heat transfer within a commercial vertical induction heating reactor. This novel reactor gains significant efficiency by melting plastic on a larger scale than conventional extruders and avoiding preprocessing for 'hard to recycle' plastics. In-field measurements will explore the behaviour of the complex non-Newtonian fluids present in this system. This Project addresses a significant scientific knowledge gap in the understanding of the rheology and thermal behaviour bulk plastic melt-flows. This will deliver an accurate model of inductively heated polymer melt-flow processing in larger scale systems. A short horizon to very significant impact is likely. An expanded understanding of these very simple and efficient reactor systems will make available their greater added value with lower energy and capital expenditure demands both to the Australian recycling industry but also to the wider process design and 3D metal fabrication communities.

Open now.

31 December 2027.

Contact Associate Professor Ken Chiang (ken.chiang@rmit.edu.au) for more information.