Lightweight memory materials for adaptive and self-healing automotive structures
Funding: EPRSC iCASE PhD studentship with Jaguar Land Rover
Start date: 1 October 2016 for up to 4 years, possible early start considered
Supervisors: Dr Tara Schiller, Dr Lukasz Figiel, Professor Tony McNally
Project Overview:
The project provides an outstanding opportunity to be involved in high impact, cutting edge research
while also giving valuable exposure to a major area of industry through Jaguar Land Rover. The
project will allow you to develop expertise in synthesis, analysis, and modelling of functional
elastomeric nanocomposites.
Designing car components and structures that can adopt their shape in response to car speed, forces,
and/or stimuli of the environment, can improve car aerodynamics and fuel efficiency, and also
significantly reduce their replacement cost. Thus, morphing and shape-memory materials have a great
potential to enable such advanced adaptive, memory and self-healing functions in automotive
industry. Those material systems can be made through a combination of material components, based
on oriented nanoparticles embedded in shape-memory and self-healing polymer matrices.
This project will provide optimum combinations of shape-memory and self-healing polymers filled
with nanoparticles to form advanced light-weight materials for future car components that can change
shape and self-heal upon applied stimuli (e.g. temperature), and can improve fuel efficiency. These
materials will have interpenetrating network architecture where one polymer component will provide
the strength and the second polymer component is vital for flexibility and its ability to be re-moulded.
The nanoparticles embedded in those polymers will provide means for obtaining laminates with bistable characteristics. The experimental part of the project will involve polymer and composite
preparation, and their advanced characterisation and testing. Finite Element (FE) modelling will
provide database on optimum content, orientation and dispersion of the nanoparticles that maximise
bi-stable characteristics.
This project is with leading researchers in the International Institute for Nanocomposites
Manufacturing (IINM) at WMG, University of Warwick. An extensive range of advanced research
facilities including polymer synthesis, processing, characterisation and modelling are fully supported.
Multi-disciplinary knowledge and skills on these polymer nanocomposites will be developed through
this project.
Funding:
This position provides an enhanced stipend of £16,000 tax free per annum (for eligible UK
nationals) and all fees paid are paid for UK nationals for up to 4 years
Eligibility:
Applicants should have or expect a first class honours or good upper second class degree (or an
equivalent degree) in Chemistry, Polymer Chemistry, Materials Science and/or Materials
Engineering. Experience in synthetic polymer chemistry and/or FE modelling is a plus.
For informal inquiries about the project please contact Dr Tara Schiller by email
t.l.schiller@warwick.ac.uk
To apply, please complete our online enquiry form and upload your CV.