Meet our PhD researchers

Meet Sharun Hedge and Felix Thorgren, our researchers connected to the Co2-Nice project.

Sharun Hegde

Tell us briefly about yourself!
My name is Sharun Hegde and I am from Bangalore, India. I have Master's degree in Automobile engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology with a strong interest in materials science and sustainability.

What is your research within CO2-Nice about?
Within CO2-Nice project, my research focuses on sorting of steel scrap and understanding the properties of recycled steels which have undergone thermomechanical treatments.

Why is your research important for the green transition?
It is very important for the green transition because it reduces dependence on virgin iron ore. My research also focuses on retaining the material characteristics which it exhibited before being recycled. Because most of the recycling done today is actually downcycling.

What are you most looking forward to during your PhD work?
During my PhD studies, I am mostly looking forward to collaborate with other researchers and with industrial partners to ensure scientific insights are translated into real world solutions.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not doing research?
When I am not doing research I love learning new skills, languages, cooking, traveling, reading books which helps me stay balanced and inspired

Felix Thorgren

Tell us briefly about yourself!
My name is Felix Thorgren and I’m from Gothenburg, Sweden. I completed a dual master’s degree in Sustainable Energy Systems, “Wind and Water” and “Bioenergy and Energy Efficiency” here at LTU. My main interest is in computational methods, such as FEM and CFD.

What is your research within CO2-Nice about?
Within the CO-Nice research project, my focus will be on verifying the material properties of recycled steel, investigating testing methods to determine whether current approaches are sufficient for properly characterizing non-virgin steel, and finally using computational methods such as Particle-FEM to validate my results and construct material models to simulate industrial processes.

Why is your research important for the green transition?
My research will support the green transition by reducing material waste, ensuring that materials which pass testing will also withstand the processes they are expected to undergo. It will also help make the testing procedures for new materials more efficient, so that introducing a new material into the process chain becomes less of an obstacle.

What are you most looking forward to during your PhD work?
Most of all, I am looking forward to exploring the relatively new and little-trodden ground that is P-FEM and hopefully contributing to the development of procedures that will be used for many years to come within the steel industry.