Research assistant in the field of process control in injection moulding

Injection molding is one of the most important processes for the economical production of complex plastic components. Precision components made of plastics have become indispensable in many areas of application. For ecological reasons, the processing of post-consumer recyclates (PCR) continues to increase. The processing of PCR increases process fluctuations, which is why the process must be adapted to the prevailing conditions in order to ensure consistently high component quality. Quality assurance and control systems are increasingly becoming a decisive competitive advantage for machine manufacturers and processors in the plastics industry.

IKV has been involved in the development, analysis and optimisation of control strategies for plastic injection moulding for many years. One focus is on the development of self-optimising processes that are particularly robust against external disturbances and enable reproducible and high component quality. On the one hand, advanced control concepts such as model-predictive or iterative learning controllers are used for this purpose. On the other hand, additional information about the material behavior or from the mould is used for process control in the sense of increasing networking and machine learning methods are used for process analysis and optimisation.

Within the scope of this field of work, the injection moulding process must be analysed holistically in order to be able to describe the effects of process fluctuations on component quality so that possible adjustments can be assessed. In addition to the associated data analysis, practical injection moulding tests must also be carried out for the development and validation of control concepts.

• As head of the working group, you will be responsible for the planning and implementation of research projects in the field of process control and quality assurance. You will be responsible for the technical and financial coordination of these projects as well as the guidance and supervision of a motivated team of student employees.
• Your area of responsibility includes the development and implementation of new solutions for process control in injection moulding in the existing system technology, the evaluation of production data and the analysis of the influences on the resulting quality properties of the components.
• You actively participate in the definition of relevant questions and the derivation of new research ideas
• They take on tasks in the field of teaching at RWTH Aachen University, such as supervising Bachelor’s and Master’s theses.
• You maintain intensive contacts with numerous national and international industrial partners and research institutes and represent your specialist area in presentations and lectures at conferences and symposia.

• You have successfully completed a diploma or master’s degree in mechanical engineering with a specialization in plastics technology, electrical engineering, automation technology, computational engineering science or a comparable course of study at a technical college or university.
• You are willing to familiarize yourself with new interdisciplinary issues and ideally already have practical experience in injection moulding or programming with e.g. MATLAB or LabVIEW.
• You enjoy working independently and are able to work on complex problems in a structured manner.
• You are open in your dealings with other people and have the ability to motivate yourself and others.
• In addition to German, you have a very good command of written and spoken English. We expect you to be confident in using MS Windows and Office.

We offer you an exciting, varied and versatile position in an open-minded, highly motivated team of scientists in which you will work independently.

Your tasks will enable you to have intensive contact with partners from both industry and science. In addition, we offer you the opportunity to do a doctorate in the above-mentioned subject area.

Please send us your detailed and complete application documents digitally.

Apply by e-mail