PDEng position – Energy & Process Technology at the University of Twente

The Professional Doctorate in Engineering (PDEng) programme Energy & Process Technology is very interesting for you. The PDEng programme is a 2-year post MSc technological programme with a focus on technological design. This programme at the University of Twente contains an educational part that will be followed at the University, and a design project that will be carried out at Apollo Tyres in Enschede. The educational programme will have an in-depth and broadening character with ample attention for professional development and will be partly tailored to the design project. In collaboration with Apollo, high level, creative and new designs for complex issues will be aimed at.

PDEng Design Project - Design of a model to control and predict silanization during mixing
The extrusion process of silica tyre treads is dominated by the rheology of the silica compound. It is well-known that the rheology of silica compounds is highly viscoelastic. In the mixing process of silica compounds, a chemical reaction has to take place which is known as the silanization reaction, and the rheology of the compound is depending on the progress of this reaction. Especially when the silanization is almost completed (a basic prerequisite to meet the required compound properties), the rheology changes dramatically. Needless to state that the silica tyre tread extrusion process is not stable when the silanization reaction is not controlled.
The degree of silanization can be determined by means of the well-known Payne effect, which is the difference of the storage modules between small and large amplitude at 100 degrees Celsius and 0.5 Hz. Since mixing of silica compounds is a highly non-isothermal batch process, non-uniformity between batches and within a batch is a real problem in the tyre industry.

The goal of this PDEng project is to design a correlation for the mixing process which links the mixing parameters to the Payne effect of the batch, thus the degree to which the silanization reaction took place. As a basis, an in-depth study of the theological behaviour of silica rubber compounds and its dependency on the mixing process has to be performed. An investigation for the most appropriate rheological parameter to characterize the progress of the silanization reaction is necessary for the design of the predictive model.

Project deliverable: The design of a model to control the Payne effect of the silica compound miing process parameters.
Project periphery: Industrial mixing process reports (like power & temperature charts), data of raw materials and characterization of the mixed silica compounds will be made available by Apollo Tyres.

Closing Date: 29-02-2016

Further details:
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