On Monday 25 June, researcher Frank Niessen defended his PhD project ‘Phase transformations in supermartensitic stainless steels’, making him the first DHRTC PhD student to finish his studies.
“I am very pleased to congratulate Frank on this big occasion. This is a big milestone, not only for Frank as a researcher, but also for the DHRTC. Having our first PhD finish only four years after the centre was established is a testament to the Centre’s ability to attract talents to do research within oil and gas and to the importance of the work we do,” says Lars Simonsen, R&D Director at the DHRTC.
The Project
Frank Niessen defended his project ’Phase transformations in supermartensitic stainless steels’, which examined the major phase transformations in these materials and their impact on the mechanical properties.
“The outcome of the project is primarily of academic interest. However, particularly the measurements on the stability of reverted austenite are of immediate interest to industry, as it shows the boundaries of application for a given specification in terms of mechanical load and temperature,” tells Frank Niessen about the project.
Supermartensitic stainless steels are of special interest to the offshore oil and gas industry due to their many qualities such as resistance to wet-corrosion, good weldability and high strength.
Application potential
“Supermartensitic stainless steels pose all the right qualities for application in the offshore oil and gas industry as an alternative to expensive duplex steels. Frank’s study contributes greatly to the overall understanding of these qualities and how we can find new manufacturing principles to prolong the lifetime of new structures and cut costs related to corrosion,” says Simon Ivar Andersen, Technology Maturation Advisor at the DHRTC.
Frank’s project is a part of the CTR 2 work programme at DHRTC.
Learn more about Frank’s project right here