Closing Date: January 31, 2006

The Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e) has the following vacancyPhD “Mechanics of dynamically loaded free standing thin films” (V35.345)at Mechanics of Materials, Department of Mechanical Engineering.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering considers as the core of their activities design, realization and analysis of new products, processes and materials. Besides the basis of (solid and fluid) mechanics, materials, control and thermodynamics, parts of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing science are important supporting tools. The field is explored by a combination of modeling using fundamental concepts and applied engineering and technology. Automotive Engineering Science and Micro- & Nano-Scale Engineering are important departemental themes. The Mechanical Engineering Department comprises about 950 students and 250 staff members.

The mission of the group Mechanics of Materials is to generate and innovate science to the benefit of technologies relying on the mechanical performance of materials, through experimentally and computationally driven scientific research at various length scales. The research strategy focuses on the full understanding and modelling of the intrinsic relation between the evolution of materials, the manufacturing process and the resulting product properties.

Tasks
Project description
Microsystems and in particular MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) are miniaturised components used in many electrical and mechanical devices nowadays. In microsystems usually many thin freestanding plates and beams are integrated which are loaded dynamically during operation. The mechanical properties must remain constant under continuous loading, and fatigue and creep are not allowed. Mechanical analyses to describe the behaviour of thin films based on classical theories fail: these theories are not applicable at small length scales.Although there are improved (micro-) mechanical concepts to be inserted for the mechanical modelling in small scale applications, little is known on the performance in case of cyclic loads. Moreover, the detailed micromechanical models are not very efficient in research practice, since they require a large amount of computational effort. Furthermore, the specific characteristic influence of the material applied and its processed microstructure is not yet adequately accounted for in these models. Engineering tools for microsystems that are capable of resolving and predicting the mechanical behaviour quantitatively for various materials, boundary conditions and (dynamic) loading modes are hardly available and the experimental evaluation is unexplored to a large extent.Appropriate engineering models including size effects, which are reasonably accurate and sufficiently easy to be used in design and optimization of microsystems, need to be further developed. The objective of this project is to arrive at a sufficiently efficient model based on the intrinsic deformation mechanisms of the material at the scale of interest, accounting for the influence of the microstructure, the boundary conditions, the presence of internal and external gradients and the loading conditions. Evidently a close connection with experimental results (to be derived in a parallel project) has to be established.As PhD “Mechanics of dynamically loaded free standing thin films” you will fulfill the following activities:

• Perform scientific research.
• Present results on international conferences and publish results in scientific journals.
• Report progress to the MicroNed organisation.
• Contribute to the educational program in the department

Requirements
We are looking for a candidate who meets the following requirements:

• MSc in Mechanical Engineering with a strong background in computational mechanics.
• A sound interest in materials science .
• Knowledge of advanced programming tools and the structure of commercial FE-codes (e.g. MSC.Marc ).
• Good communication skills in English.

Appointment and Salary

• A full-time employment for 4 years, with an intermediate evaluation after 1 year.
• A salary of € 1877 per month (gross) in the first year, increasing to € 2407 per month (gross) in the fourth year.
• Support with your personal development and career planning.
• Attractive secondary labour conditions (among others: a compensation of € 1815 for the production of the Ph.D. thesis).

Information
More information can be obtained from:

• http://w3.wtb.tue.nl/
• http://www.mate.tue.nl/mate/
• Prof.dr.ir. M.G.D. Geers, tel.: +31 (0)40 247 5076, email: M.G.D.Geers@tue.nl
• C.M. van Dam, Personnel Department, tel.: +31 (0)40 2474163, email: C.M.v.Dam@tue.nl

Application
Please send your written application with extended curriculum vitae to:Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, to Mrs. drs. A.J. Klomps (e-mail: pzwtb@tue.nl), Managing Director , P.O. Box 513, 5600MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands, mentioning vacancy number 35.345.