Development of novel materials for acoustic, thermal and vibration applications

One of the main environmental problems of our time is elastomeric waste pollution. Due to mismanagement or inadequate recycling practices, up to 300 million tons of elastomeric waste ends up annually in landfill, or are discharged into ecosystems, posing potential threats to aquatic and terrestrial life. Once discharged to the environment, elastomeric waste undergoes degradation processes, due to UV irradiation and mechanical abrasion, which produce an array of particles of widely varying size and shape.

This PhD project aims to develop new sustainable low cost materials by upcycling the polymeric waste. The developed materials will be tailored for various applications e.g. acoustic, thermal, fire resistive and vibrational.

Your part will be to develop the material formulations, test and model the new materials. You will have the opportunity to advance science in one or more of the following related topics:

1. Optimisation of the material performance
2. Composites with metamaterials
3. Simulation/modelling the performance of the materials and comparing with experimental data.