1 PhD Scholarship in Experimental and Numerical Characterization of Nano-filled Polymers for Thin-Walled Micro Components in Denmark | Technical University of Denmark (DTU)

CAMM is a joint research centre between DTU Mechanical Engineering and DTU Electrical Engineering. The centre is sponsered by three Danish hearing-aid companies Widex, GN Resound and Oticon. The objective of the centre is to increase the fundamental understanding of the factors that control the behaviour of acoustical micro systems. This comprises the mechanical behaviour of complex materials with nonlinear, dissipative and anisotropic characteristics, computational methods for dynamics of acoustical, mechanical and coupled acousto-mechanical systems at micro scale, but also the development of design methods such as topology optimization and advanced manufacturing technologies such as multi material micro moulding processes.

Responsibilities and tasks

The Ph.D. candidate will be working to develop and implement a novel holistic approach for the development of CNT filled polymer materials for highly demanding engineering applications (for example high performance shells for hearing aids). The ultimate goal of the Ph.D. project will be a set of numerical and experimental methods that can precisely control the quality of CNT filled polymers and predict the important properties of the composites by the numerical methods. The overall objective of the project can be divided into the following sub-objectives:

Numerical and experimental optimization of the manufacturing process for thin walled structures (like the shells of hearing aids) with highly advanced thermoplastics filled with carbon nano tubes. Special emphasis will be given to the methods for controlling the alignments of CNTs and to avoid the aggregations of CNTs that may cause the formation of bundles or ropes in the polymer matrix.

Numerical homogenization of the material behaviours along with the mechanical, thermal and electrical properties – experimental validation of the material properties will be conducted to validate the results obtained from the numerical methods.

Finite element vibration analysis with the homogenized material properties and the frequency dependent properties of CNT filled plastics will be the part of the project. At this point the vibrational and damping performance of the thin walled structures will be tested simulating the conditions required for hearing aid applications.

Qualifications:

Candidates should have a master's degree in engineering or a similar degree with an academic level equivalent to the master's degree in engineering.