Bachelor’s thesis or master’s thesis
© IKVTopic of the work:
Large quantities of polyethylene plastic film are used in the packaging sector. After a short service life of just a few weeks, these films become waste and are recycled. When these materials are reprocessed into film products, defects occur due to impurities in the material flow as well as degradation and cross-linking of the polymer melt. A special type of these defects are gels: cross-linked and interlaced inhomogeneities that can flexibly deform in the melt and thus penetrate filtration stages. In film products, they appear as visible defects, lead to rejects and film tears and disrupt subsequent process steps such as the printing or laminating of films. Reducing these defects is essential for the high-quality processing of recyclates.
Objective:
The aim of your thesis is to develop a polyolefin compound with specifically adjusted gels that serves as a reproducible test material for systematic filtration tests. To this end, different gel types will first be produced by varying the crosslinking methods, degrees of crosslinking and gel size distributions and compounded in virgin material. The materials produced are then characterized in terms of the number of gels, degree of cross-linking and size distribution. On this basis, you will create the material foundation to be able to compare and reproducibly evaluate the filtration efficiency of different melt filter media and configurations in subsequent work.
Your task:
| For a Bachelor's thesis, you will work on the following tasks | For a Master's thesis, you will work on the following tasks |
| Planning and implementation of a test plan for the systematic variation of gel types/number of gels and their incorporation into virgin material. | Identification and evaluation of suitable analysis and evaluation methods for recording gels and their properties. |
| Material-technical characterization of the compounds produced and comparison with selected industrial polyolefin recyclates | Planning and implementation of a test plan for the systematic variation of gel types/number of gels and their incorporation into virgin material. |
| Material characterization of the compounds produced and comparison with selected industrial polyolefin recyclates. |
Your profile:
- Technical or scientific degree (mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, materials science, environmental engineering, applied chemistry, applied polymer science…)
- Independent, analytical and structured approach
- Interest in experimental work and scientific data analysis
- Motivation for analytical material testing
- Communicative and a team player
These are your benefits:
- Learn scientific work in a motivated team with intensive supervision
- Learn the systematic collection, evaluation and interpretation of experimental data
- Insight into and active involvement in shaping the industry’s recycling prospects
- Flexible start and rapid processing of the work are possible
Has this vacancy piqued your interest? Then get in touch with me by e-mail or phone and send me your application documents.