Bachelor’s thesis or master’s thesis
© IKVTopic of the work:
The mixing process in the internal mixer is the first step in the production of high-quality elastomer products, in which the individual recipe components are combined according to specified mixing instructions. In practice, these mixing instructions are often developed iteratively directly on production mixers, which leads to high material consumption, long development times and not necessarily optimal process settings. For this reason, mixing instructions are to be developed on the laboratory mixer. For a reliable transfer to production mixers, physical parameters must be identified that describe the behavior of the mixture in the internal mixer. One example of this is the shear stress, which is influenced by the rotor geometry, among other things.
The work is related to this research project:
The “InSuKa” research project is concerned with the development of an app that recommends the best possible combination of raw materials and the corresponding mixing instructions for a given application.
Objective:
The aim of the work is the development and evaluation of physical parameters to describe the mixing process in the internal mixer and their correlation with process and recipe parameters. Possible key figures include the shear stress, the filler absorption rate and parameters for describing the temperature curve. Before starting the work, we will select the key figures to be analyzed as part of your work in a joint discussion.
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 additional tasks |
| Familiarization with the basics of rubber compound production | Integration of key figures into existing models for predicting the mixing process |
| Investigation of key figures as a function of recipe and process parameters | Determination of optimized process settings |
| Derivation of optimization strategies for the development of mixing rules | |
| Development of concepts for the scale-up |
Your profile:
- Technical or scientific degree (mechanical engineering, materials science, CES, industrial engineering, environmental engineering, applied polymer science)
- Affinity for technology, creativity and willingness to learn
- Independent, conscientious and team-oriented way of working
These are your benefits:
- Work in a young, motivated team
- Independent work with intensive support
- Co-design of current research projects
- Individual coordination of tasks and time frame
- Experimental work on pilot plants
- Immediate start possible
If you are interested in writing your thesis at IKV and in this task, please get in touch with me. We agree on the exact scope of content and schedule individually.