PhD in Reprogrammable Entanglement (PhD)
Applications are invited for a PhD studentship in the Department of Aeronautics at Imperial College London. The successful candidate will join the AIM Lab and a research community working on architected materials and structures. Reprogrammability is core to many engineered systems, from robotics to software to digital memory: their function can be rewritten after they are built. Materials, by contrast, are traditionally treated as fixed, their physical behaviour set the moment they are made. This project asks whether that need be so, by investigating reprogrammability in architected entangled matter.
Architected materials are engineered structures whose physical behaviour derives from their internal geometry (their architecture) as well as their chemical composition. Architected entangled matter is a class of such materials constructed from networks of curved filaments, whose properties arise from the way the filaments interweave and contact one another. From fabrics to fibre-reinforced composites to woven steel cables, we handle such materials every day. We examine whether the entanglement of a filament network can be rewritten after fabrication, such that stiffness and toughness become states into which a structure is programmed rather than properties fixed at manufacture. The project aims to demonstrate a network that is stiff and tough when entangled, that releases on demand, and that exhibits the large contrast in stiffness between the two states. Because such a network can be released and re-entangled, the same filaments can serve more than one purpose over the life of a structure: a spacecraft truss that stiffens on command and later releases to be reconfigured for a task nobody anticipated at launch, or a wearable that locks rigid to protect a joint and then softens to let you move.
The project is approximately 50% experimental, 40% computational and 10% theoretical. We seek a candidate with a strong background in mechanical or aeronautical engineering, materials science or physics, who is motivated by both making things and modelling them. Experience with mechanical testing, finite element methods, and fabrication would be an advantage.
Requirements
- First-class honours degree or equivalent in aerospace, mechanical or civil engineering, materials science, engineering mathematics, or a related discipline
- Willingness to divide the work between laboratory experiments and computational modelling rather than specialising in one from the outset
- Some experience of finite element analysis, or of writing simulation code for slender structures
- An interest in geometry and topology, although no formal background in either is required
- No prior knowledge of textiles is expected
How to apply
Apply through Imperial's online application system, selecting "Aeronautics Research PhD", naming Dr Tian Chen as supervisor and quoting the reference.
Questions about the project: Dr. Chen. Questions about the application process: Ms Lisa Kelly, PhD Administrator (Admissions).