Project Topic:
Development of Sustainable Rubber Compounds and AI-Assisted Prediction for Efficient Manufacturing
Thesis Topic:
There is a lack of proven rubber compounds based on renewable natural rubber for new rubber products, such as those required for the growing market of electric mobility. This leads to increased development efforts and manufacturing waste due to iterations. To address these challenges, the incorporation of recycled components, such as carbon black, in rubber compounds offers a potential solution. To enable the efficient production of these new rubber compounds without extensive iterations, the implementation of a database supported by artificial intelligence (AI) to recommend suitable compound formulations is necessary.
The objective of your Bachelor's or Master's thesis will be to conduct research on AI prediction models for rubber compound formulations and explore sustainable materials for rubber mixtures. Additionally, you will gather data related to processability through extrusion, which will be utilized to train the rubber compound selection AI. The technical facilities of the laboratory include extruders and a complete vulcanization line to support your experiments.
Research Group:
Your work will be conducted within the Rubber Extrusion research group. This field encompasses the production of various rubber components, such as tire treads and sealing profiles, making it crucial for achieving significant CO2 emissions reductions.
Objective:
By determining relevant processing data, formulation components, potential savings, and implementing an AI-driven rubber compound database, your thesis will contribute to resource and energy conservation in the industry, thereby reducing the CO2 footprint of manufactured rubber. The outcomes of your research will include the identification of key parameters for the compound AI and the provision of initial training data regarding processability through extrusion.
Tasks:
For a Bachelor's thesis, your tasks will involve:
- Identification of relevant formulation components
- Determination of key processing parameters
- Collection of data on the processing parameters through practical experiments
For a Master's thesis, your tasks will include:
- Identification of relevant formulation components
- Determination of key processing parameters
- Collection of data on the processing parameters through practical experiments
- Characterization of the extrudate
Profile:
- Background in natural sciences or engineering disciplines such as Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Chemistry, etc.
- Motivation to contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions in the rubber manufacturing industry
- Interest in a practical thesis with significant relevance to the rubber sector
- Strong organizational and independent work skills
If you are interested in pursuing your thesis at IKV and working on this project, please contact me. We can discuss the specific content and timeline of the research in more detail.
Contact Person:
Uwe Nillius, M.Sc. RWTH
Phone: +49 241 80 93809
Email: uwe.nillius@ikv.rwth-aachen.de