Assistant-Associate Professor In Polymer and Soft-Matter Technology

Assistant-Associate Professor In Polymer and Soft-Matter Technology

Would you like to be part of a vibrant and collaborative academic community, contributing to innovations with real-world relevance? Join us in shaping the future of polymer and soft-matter technology in the heart of the high-tech region of the Netherlands!

The Processing & Performance section of the Mechanical Engineering department at Eindhoven University of Technology is seeking a passionate and talented Assistant or Associate Professor to expand its team.

The department of Mechanical Engineering conducts world-class research that closely aligns with the technological needs of the high-tech industry in the Netherlands. We are deeply embedded in the Brainport Eindhoven ecosystem, enabling our staff and students to contribute directly to the development of technological breakthroughs with real-world relevance. With a strong track record of successful spin-offs and active participation in numerous national and international research consortia we offer a dynamic environment where science meets application.

By offering a balanced education and research program that combines fundamental and application aspects, we aim to develop engineers who are both scientifically educated, and application driven. We equip our graduates with practical and theoretical expertise, preparing them optimally for future challenges.

The department of Mechanical Engineering focuses on research in the field of product and process design and manufacturing. The heart of the department is devoted to designing, analyzing, improving and manufacturing new products and processes, as well as the materials needed for this.

The overarching ambition of the Processing & Performance (P&P) section is to change the design of polymer and soft-matter products and shaping processes from experimentally driven trial-and-error to virtual prototyping with quantitative predictive capability. To reach this goal, the P&P section aims at bridging the gap between sophisticated experimentation, constitutive modelling and reliable and feasible computational techniques, augmented with data-driven methods and machine learning, to quantitatively describe and predict the processing (fluid state) and properties (solid state) of polymers and soft matter.

Specific attention is given to establishing (micro) structure-processing-property relationships.

The P&P section has strong connections with the departments of Chemical Engineering & Chemistry as well as with Biomedical Engineering. There are also strong long-lasting industrial collaborations which is reflected by the numerous PhD and postdoctoral projects that are supported by industry bilaterally, via research centers, and in larger consortia.

The section currently consists of a diverse and committed team of eleven scientific staff members, and approx. five post-docs and twenty PhD researchers.

To support our research we have a number of excellently equipped laboratories dedicated to rheology, interfacial rheology, mechanical testing, polymer processing, and additive manufacturing.

Research themes of the candidate

We welcome applications from candidates (experimental, modelling, or computational) who share the overarching ambition and philosophy as formulated above, for a seamless integration in and productive interaction within the section. In terms of specific fields of polymer and soft-matter technology, the section has an interest in strengthening its expertise in one of the following research themes:

• Safe and sustainable-by-design polymer-based materials

The emphasis lies on designing and characterizing next-generation materials that incorporate sustainability from the onset, by including bio-based and biodegradable solutions, reducing hazardous chemicals in production, or substituting chemicals, while evaluating their performance, durability, and suitability for circular economy pathways such as reuse, recycling, and resource recovery.

• Multi-physics polymer-based materials

Specific mechanical and other physical properties (e.g., dielectric properties, conductivity, optics, permeability, insulation, stimuli-responsive behavior) can be designed by controlling both the composition and the processing conditions over different length and time scales. In terms of applications, one can think of electromagnetic shielding, opto-mechanical components, batteries, fuel cells, flexible electronics, and sensors. Of interest is specifically to unravel composition and processing recipes to simultaneously optimize several target properties by control of the microstructure.

• Polymer materials at extreme conditions

Polymer materials offer enormous versatility in terms of forming and properties of the final product, at relatively low cost. However, when it comes to exposure to extreme conditions, polymer materials have limitations; one can think, e.g., of cryogenic temperatures and very high…