PhD in 3D printing of eco-friendly mechanical sensors and energy harvesters

Organisation/Company

Kaunas University of Technology

Research Field

Engineering

Researcher Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)

Country

Lithuania

Application Deadline

30 Jun 2025 - 23:00 (UTC)

Type of Contract

To be defined

Job Status

Full-time

Hours Per Week

To be defined

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Not funded by a EU programme

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

The Dynamics Lab of Dr. Rolanas Dauksevicius at the Institute of Mechatronics in Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) invites self-driven and skilled candidates to apply for a competition-based admission to a doctoral study program in Mechanical Engineering under the following PhD projects ‘Multi-material 3D printing of resilient sensor-integrated structures using custom-made electroactive composite materials’ and ‘Printable bio-based multifunctional composites for additive manufacturing of mechatronic eco-devices’.

Why are the proposed projects relevant?

Multi-material 3D printing of piezoelectric and conductive materials (filaments/granules) is a key driver of several disruptive application fields. They include additively manufactured electronics and mechatronics components that contain structure-embedded deformation sensors and vibration energy harvesters (e.g. for energy-autonomous load sensing and damage detection in structural health monitoring (SHM)). Efficient multi-material FFF or FGF processes are needed for the single-process (all-in-one) 3D printing of geometrically complex and structurally efficient sensorized composite components consisting of diverse functional layers (piezoelectric, conductive, dielectric, etc.). To ensure environmental sustainability, thermoplastic composites should be fabricated in a solvent-free scalable process by using extrusion of composite filaments containing piezoelectric, conductive or other functional fillers. Toughness and durability of the composites is imperative in performance-critical components used in automotive, aircraft/spacecraft, healthtech/medtech devices, where load monitoring and energy-efficient operation are essential. To improve print quality, mechanical properties and functional performance, a typical 3D printer could be integrated with an additional AI-based defect detection subsystem for in-process print quality inspection, and augmented with auxiliary thermomechanical, electrical or photonic processing operations (e.g. to enhance conductivity or electromechanical conversion efficiency of the printed layers). Such advanced AI-assisted hybrid/additive manufacturing process would provide larger design freedom to cost-effectively print high-quality resilient smart structures with seamlessly integrated sensors and energy harvesters.

In addition, more sustainable solvent-free manufacturing of novel 3D-printable smart composite materials based on nature-derived polymers/elastomers is a prerequisite for the development of environmentally safe, mechanically resilient multifunctional structures. In the future they will be increasingly used within the continuously advancing fields of green or degradable/transient (bio)electronics and (bio)mechatronics. Thermoplastic smart composites that integrate bio-polymers/elastomers with safe functional fillers are needed for the multi-material 3D printing of various novel eco-devices. They should have negligible negative impact on the ecosystems and health, simultaneously providing multifunctional properties needed for electronic devices such as electrical conductivity, sensing or energy harvesting capability, etc. Applications are diverse and include energy-autonomous devices (e.g. self-powered sensors for environmental monitoring, SHM platforms used in critical infrastructure), sensorized eco-friendly consumer products, diagnostic or therapeutic healthtech/medtech devices (e.g. patient-specific sensor-integrated implants). To ensure cost-effectiveness and environmental sustainability it is important to develop and validate melt blending and extrusion processes for more efficient, industrially scalable and cleaner production of bio-based smart composite materials for the multi-material 3D printing.

What are you going to do?

The PhD project ‘Multi-material 3D printing of resilient sensor-integrated structures using custom-made electroactive composite materials’ will focus on: implementation of an effective multi-material hybrid/additive manufacturing process to improve quality of sensorized structures/devices printed with hybrid organic-inorganic materials (using filaments or granules); design, modeling and integration into traditional FDM printer additional automated (e.g. robot-assisted) performance- or functionality-enhancing operations (e.g. AI-assisted in-process quality control via multi-sensory data fusion, upgrade with granule or ink printing capability, selective auxiliary post-processing); extrusion-based manufacturing and characterization of new composite filaments with superior mechanical properties and tailored electroactive properties (piezoelectric, conductive, magnetic, etc.); simulation-based design, multi-material 3D printing and performance testing of electroactive flexible and durable sensing device (e.g. for biomechanical monitoring, SHM, condition monitoring for performance-critical applications).

The PhD project ‘Printable bio-based multifunctional composites for additive manufacturing of mechatronic eco-devices’ will focus on: implementation of melt blending and extrusion process for more scalable and sustainable manufacturing of customizable 3D printable bio-based composite filaments/granules with superior mechanical properties and predefined active properties (e.g. based on flexible bioelastomers, biopolymer blends with selected functional fillers); characterization of mechanical, physicochemical and relevant multifunctional properties of the extruded and printed (multi)composite samples; simulation-driven design, multi-material 3D printing and performance testing of a multifunctional eco-device (e.g. eco-friendly sensors or energy harvesters for energy-autonomous device applications).

The projects are mostly grounded in mechanical, mechatronics/robotics, manufacturing and materials engineering. Depending on the project focus, the research work may include activities from electrical, electronics and control engineering fields, so skills and interest in these disciplines would be valuable.

How to get more information?

More information is available here (https://admissions.ktu.edu/phd/ ). PhD applicants should contact Dr. Rolanas Dauksevicius (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4571-757X ) by e-mail with their CV, copies of diplomas with transcripts and GPA, at least one reference, weblinks to published scientific papers or their pdf copies.

Website

https://jobrxiv.org/job/kaunas-university-of-technology-27778-phd-in-3d-printin…

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

Kaunas University of Technology

Country

Lithuania

Geofield

Website

https://mechatronics.ktu.edu/

• X (formerly Twitter)
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Whatsapp
• 
  More share options
  • E-mail
  • Pocket
  • Viadeo
  • Gmail
  • Weibo
  • Blogger
  • Qzone
  • YahooMail