Polymer composites based on thermoplastics as well as elastomers are promising materials for the next generation industry, due to their unique mechanical properties, such as hyper elasticity, high stiffness to density ratio and low cost of manufacturing. Polymer composites generally have two phases, i.e. soft polymer matrix and stiff filler. The micro-scale interaction between fillers and matrix intrinsically determines the macro-scale mechanical behavior of polymer composites, while the macro-scale behavior of polymer composites significantly affects the status of micro-scale fillers. This cross-scale relationship is valuable to guide and optimize the applications of polymer composites, as well as to help the design and manufacturing of new polymer composites. However, multiscale analysis that can reveal the cross-scale relationship in polymer composites is challenging, due to high computation cost and difficulty of numerical implementation.

Objective
The multigrid method developed by Prof. C. H. Venner has great advantages, especially its high computational efficiency and accuracy, in simulating the mechanical response of heterogeneous materials consisting of different phases. It is adopted as the theoretical basis and will be further developed for multiscale analysis of polymer composites under thermomechanical loading conditions. The multiscale simulation will be able to concurrently capture the macro-scale thermomechanical behavior of polymer composites, the micro-scale behavior of fillers and matrix as well as the cross-scale interactions.

• You hold a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Materials Engineering or equivalent;
• You have experimental and/or theoretical skills in polymers or fiber reinforced polymer composites in the field of e.g. material characterization, analysis, manufacturing or mechanical performance.
• You have an affinity with numerical modelling of the mechanical performance and experience with programming languages like Fortran or C++, scripting languages like Python or numerical computing environments like Matlab, ABAQUS and ANSYS.
• You have a strong interest in continuum mechanics, combining dedicated experiments with lean and efficient numerical modelling;
• Your writing skills are good and you have good experience in writing technical reports and/or scientific papers;
• You have excellent analytical skills and critical mindset;
• You are a team player with good interpersonal skills;
• You are fluent in English, both spoken and written. (We require a TOEFL > 90 or IELTS > 6.5 score).

We offer a very challenging multidisciplinary position in the groups of Production Technology, Elastomer Technology and Engineering, Engineering Fluid Dynamics in the Faculty of Engineering Technology at University of Twente. The university offers a dynamic ecosystem with enthusiastic colleagues in which internationalization is an important part of the strategic agenda. The terms of employment are in accordance with the Dutch Collective Labour Agreement for Universities (CAO) and include:

• A fulltime PhD position for four years, with a qualifier in the first year;
• A starting salary of € 2.395,- in the first year up to a salary of € 3.061,- in the fourth year gross per month;
• A holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary and a year-end bonus of 8.3%;
• A solid pension scheme;
• Minimum of 29 leave days in case of full-time employment;
  Professional and personal development programs.

Your main responsibility will be to carry out research, but you may be given the opportunity to acquire some teaching experience. We offer our PhD candidates and postdocs the opportunity to broaden their knowledge by joining international exchange programs, by participating in national and international conferences and workshops, and by visiting other research institutes and universities worldwide

The chair of Production Technology in the MS3 Department focuses on materials and manufacturing processes for light-weight structural applications. We closely work together with industry to solve today's and tomorrow's problems by improving scientific understanding of the underlying physics and by developing ‘design for manufacturing’ tools. The chair is one of the founders of the ThermoPlastic composites Research Center.