Design of smart dynamical multifunctional structures using electro-active materials

Active material, and more precisely piezoelectric materials are very appealing as they offer the possibility to design smart and multifunctional structures. The word “smart” is related here with the possibility of those structures to react dynamically to their environment and the word “multi-functional” to the fact that several functions can be simultaneously achieved by relying on this smartness ability. One can thus imagine structures able to monitor autonomously their health state (structural health monitoring), to actively control their vibration level (active control), or to provide a haptic or audio feedback to a user … Ceramic piezoelectric materials (PZT) have been widely used in that area but suffers from several limitations that hinder their practical use: their geometries are constrained to simple shapes, they are fragile from a mechanical point of view, and they contain lead which is environmentally not acceptable. Newly developed active materials such as P(VDF-co-TrFE) (Poly(vinylidene
fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene)) overcome these problems because they can be printed in any form, are not brittle and are lead-free. P(VDF-co-TrFE) copolymers thus offer numerous applications opportunities in the smart multifunctional structures context as they can be fully optimized to achieve a set of desired target functions.

This post-doctoral position is offered between the company Arkema which is producing P(VDF-co-TrFE) copolymers under the name Piezotech and the DYSCO team of the PIMM laboratory which is working on smart and multifunctional structures design.  The objectives of this post-doctoral position are thus:

1. to perform experiments allowing to quantify the electromechanical properties of P(VDF-co-TrFE) materials and to understand their ability to dynamically interact with their host structure either as actuator or sensors,
2. to develop and validate a numerical model allowing to predict the dynamical behavior a P(VDF-co-TrFE) patch bonded to a host structure in a frequency range up to several hundred of kHz.
3. to design an optimization algorithm along with the associated cost functions allowing to design a P(VDF-co-TrFE) network corresponding to a given set of target functions
4. to validate experimentally on an elementary example the concept of “design for smart functions” by satisfying to targets functions using an optimized P(VDF-co-TrFE) network

You are expected to hold a PhD degree in Acoustics, Structural Dynamics or Ultrasounds with an experimental background and a signal processing or machine learning component. We expect a demonstrable interest and experience regarding both experimental and numerical or theoretical activities. Interested candidates should send to M. Rébillat (marc.rebillat@ensam.eu), I. Iliopoulos (ilias.iliopoulos@ensam.eu), M. Pruvost (mickael.pruvost@arkema.com) and N. Mechbal (nazih.mechbal@ensam.eu) an application containing:

1. a personal motivation letter (max. 1 A4 page) describing why you apply and how the position fits into your career plans,  
2. a full CV showing how your profile fits the requirements (max 4 pages),
3. an electronic copy of your PhD’s thesis
4. recommendation letters
5. a list of referees we can contact.

Come and join our team!