VSB - Technical University of Ostrava

PhD in Material Science and Engineering

• Statistical Physics of Solids)
• English Language Dr.
• French Language Dr.
• German Language Dr.
• Russian Language Dr.
• Spanish Language Dr.
• Computer simulation and modeling in materials engineering
• Degradation processes and lifetime prediction of structural materials
• Materials recycling
• Metallic and Nonmetallic Technical Materials
• Modern methods of physical properties evaluation
• Modern Techniques of Structure and Phase Analysis
• Physical Metallurgy
• Powder Metallurgy
• Processing technologies of advanced materials
• Surface engineering
• Theory of Phase Transformations
• The Special Testing Methods

Study Aims

The doctoral program „Material Science and Engineering“ is a modern interdisciplinary program based on a broad natural science background. It is built on a deep knowledge of the structure of conventional and specialty materials, including nanomaterials, their utility properties, and mechanisms of their degradation, both in normal conditions and under extreme exposure. As for specialty materials, the program is perspective-focused mainly on titanium alloys, nickel and/or cobalt-based superalloys, and cobalt, and shape memory alloys. Specialty materials represent also combinations of different types of materials to form composite materials with unique properties. These are both clay-based friction composites used in automobile braking systems as well as ceramic and antibacterial nanocomposites applied in biomedicine and finally sandwich composite materials based on polymers for the transport infrastructure. This also relates to the issues of surface treatment of the reinforcement elements of these systems to ensure high compatibility between the matrix and the reinforcing components. The character of the program is also directed to the field of modern technologies for their preparation and includes the area of the evaluation of mechanical and physical properties, the control of chemical constitution and material structure, including the diagnostics of defects in materials, and finally the selection of materials for different applications. Due to the growing importance of ecological production and introducing clean technologies, it also focuses on issues of material recycling.

The aim of the doctoral program „Material Science and Engineering“ is to train highly educated, adaptable professionals with comprehensive knowledge and skills, capable of independent creative activities in the field of material engineering in basic research and development area as well as in the management and production sphere of the given branch and related areas.

Graduate's Knowledge

The graduate of this study program will be equipped with broad theoretical knowledge, supplemented by specific practical skills and experience from industrial enterprises possessing the material technologies and from internships at foreign universities, with excellent knowledge of languages and experience in science and research cooperation in international scientific teams.

Graduates of the doctoral program „Material Science and Engineering“ will gain broad theoretical knowledge of progressive technical materials and practical expertise in advanced experimental procedures for the evaluation of their properties, including mastering the experimental techniques needed to achieve the objectives of the dissertation. They will acquire the theoretical foundations within properly selected subjects, whose offer covers both subjects of physical and mathematical characters, and the special material subjects ranging from the internal structure of materials, through the phase transformations, influencing of the utility properties by the structural change or surface treatment, the selection of materials for specific conditions of use to the degradation processes and recycling of materials. They will also gain knowledge in the field of preparation, characterization, and applications of nanomaterials in a wide range of human activities, including industrial applications.

Graduate's Skills

Graduates are able to design and apply advanced research methods, use them in their research to achieve original results, and thereby contribute to the expansion of knowledge in a given field of science. The emphasis on the professional skills of students of the doctoral program „Material Science and Engineering“ is placed on the development of independent creative thinking, especially in the interpretation of obtained results, on the study of the current state of knowledge in the given field and on the ability to present the obtained results to the professional community. Students are encouraged to participate actively in national and international conferences.

Graduate's Employment

Graduates of the doctoral program „Material Science and Engineering“ have wide employment opportunities in the labor market due to their flexibility. This study program will prepare highly skilled professionals with employment possibilities in scientific research and development services, as well as in the management and production sphere of the given branch and related branches.

Graduates have the potential to be employed as research staff, material specialists, and technologists in a wide range of companies and enterprises engaged in the production, processing, and recycling of advanced technical materials and nanomaterials, as well as companies engaged in the evaluation of their properties, prediction of their lifetime and, last but not least, in sales. Graduates can also be employed as scientific, research, or pedagogical staff at universities and research institutions, as technologists in companies dealing with the treatment and recycling of secondary raw materials.