Research Associate / PhD Student (m/f/x) within the MSCA Doctoral Network Coupled Problems for Decarbonisation in Industry and Power Generation – Combine

Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Institute for Lightweight Engineering and Polymer Technology (ILK), Chair of Lightweight Systems Engineering and Multi Material Design
2026-03-16T15:34:02+01:00

About the Individual Research Project (IRP): The scientific work within this project focuses on the experimental investigation of the interactions between fibre and resin that occur during the injection pultrusion process. The primary objective is to analyse the physical processes within the injection chamber and especially within the fibre structure. The results obtained will provide the basis for designing injection pultrusion pro-cesses with a view to highly efficient processing and effective utilisation of fibre properties.
The research work comprises the following individual tasks:

Development of specialized experimental in-situ methods: Design and construction of innovative test facilities for investigating fiber-resin interaction within the injection chamber of a pultrusion plant, for example utilizing computer tomography.

Analysis of FSI during injection: Detailed description of the fluid-structure interaction (FSI) phenomena that occur during the injection process and can lead to process-critical fiber displacements or waviness.

Experimental parameter determination: Determination of specific material and structural parameters under the real conditions of injection pultrusion in order in order to replace trial-and-error methods with physically based simulations.

Validation of sensory monitoring: Evaluation of material-integrated optical sensors for online process monitoring, especially during resin injection.

Scientific exchange: Active participation in the MSCA network, conducting research stays (secondments) at scientific and industrial partner institutions, in particular to support the development of numerical simulation models, and international publication of the results.

Investigation of the wetting behaviour of the thermoset matrix to fibre reinforcement depending on the degree of cross-linking and temperature.
This involves activities in the areas of composite manufacturing, materials testing, data evaluation, quality assurance, simulation and modelling. You will be responsible for selecting and preparing the necessary experimental investigations and evaluation methods, for which extensive measurement technology is available at the institute and within the MSCA network. The work will be carried out in close cooperation with the partners of the MSCA network, including several secondments, which requires independent communication and proactive collaboration. The results achieved in the project are to be published in international journals and presented at national and international scientific conferences. In addition to the project work, you will also support project-related student work and participate in the training activities of the MSCA network.