PhD vacancy (3 years) on experimental testing of thermoplastic automotive composites
Thermoplastic composites are gaining more and more interest in automotive, aerospace and sports applications, because of the short cycle times and recycling possibilities. Besides short fibre-reinforced thermoplastics, also continuous fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composites are being considered for load-carrying structures. However, their behaviour during manufacturing and during in-service use is very different from the traditional thermoset composites (typically epoxy-based). The mechanical properties of thermoplastic composites are much more sensitive to temperature and loading rate.