We are seeking candidates for a post-doctoral research position at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University starting in Fall 2023.  The successful candidate will join the Multiphysics Vibrations Lab led by Profs Ryan Wagner and Arvind Raman and contribute to advancing sensing and actuation technologies for flexible electronics and battery materials manufacturing.

Research Project Overview:

Commercial roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing systems are used to fabricate flexible electronics, printed sensors, wearable devices, solar cells, battery materials, and touch-sensitive displays.  Roll-to-roll systems, consisting of a web pulled over multiple rollers, and subject to physical/chemical vapor deposition and lithography with layers of insulating, semi-conducting, or conducting materials. Ambient systems include wet transform printing/coating, heat treatment/curing.  Web stress states during manufacturing can sometimes result in web wrinkling which significantly reduces quality and yield.  Previously, our group has developed a laser-based vibration monitoring that relates the resonance frequencies of the web to the cross-span web tension distribution[i].  Moving forward, we aim to develop novel approaches for detecting and suppressing the onset of web wrinkling by leveraging mechanical, electromagnetic, and thermoelastic forces. We aim to deploy these technologies in commercial R2R systems with industrial collaborators.

Qualifications:

• A recent Ph.D. degree in Science or Engineering
• Experience in computational solid mechanics, electromagnetics, thermomechanics, plate and shell theory, wrinkling, continuous vibrations, or other multiphysics continuum mechanics frameworks
• Experience with setting up experiments and systematically analyzing experimental data

Application Process:

Interested candidates should submit the following to Prof. Ryan Wagner at rbwagner@purdue.edu. 

• Cover letter, highlighting research interests, relevant experience, and motivation for applying.
• CV including publications, academic achievements, and contact information for two references.