PhD position in data-driven scratch-based material characterization

Applicants are invited for a PhD fellowship/scholarship at Graduate School of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark, within the Mechanical and Production Engineering æ programme. The position is available from 01 July 2025 or later. You can submit your application via the link under 'how to apply'.

Title:
PhD position in data-driven scratch-based material characterization

Research area and project description:
Research area and project description: This PhD project will be based in the Mechanics and Materials section of the Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering at Aarhus University, which has research focus on Structural Mechanics and Materials Engineering. This project has a multidisciplinary nature and aims to investigate a novel approach to characterize mechanical properties of metallic and polymeric materials, including elastic and plastic properties and fracture toughness using micro scratching techniques. The goal of the project is to simultaneously measure a variety of mechanical properties by harnessing and analysing the extensive amount of information encoded in the scratch topography. The proposed approach exploits symbolic regression (an equation-based ML method) to establish physics-based, interpretable analytical models that express material properties in terms of topographical and dynamical features. As a part of the project, systematic collection and analysis of numerical and experimental data will be carried out. The project utilizes both numerical and experimental techniques, leveraging high-performance computing resources and state-of-the-art experimental facilities available at the AU Tribology Lab.

The project has received financial support from the Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF, Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond). You will be joining an innovative and exciting cross-disciplinary research team which has excellent infrastructure and access to state-of-the-art experimental and computational facilities for the project. You are expected to autonomously carry out research work under supervision. You may co-supervise students (MSc and BSc) in their projects. You will expand your research portfolio and share your research findings through high-impact publications and presentations at international conferences, contributing to innovative material characterization techniques with enhanced accuracy, flexibility, and automation.

Project description: For technical reasons, you must upload a project description. Please simply copy the project description above and upload it as a PDF in the application.

Qualifications and specific competences:
Applicants for the PhD position must hold a relevant Master’s degree (120 ECTS) or have completed at least one year of a Master’s program in Mechanical Engineering/Science or Materials Engineering/Science.

The ideal candidate should demonstrate the following:

• Strong background in computational solid mechanics and, complemented by hands-on experience with commercial finite element software (Abaqus/COMSOL Multiphysics) and programming languages such as Python and Matlab.
• Research experience in tribology and familiarity with machine learning techniques (advantageous)
• Familiarity with mechanical testing and material surface characterization (advantageous)
• Self-motivated, proactive, team-oriented, and goal-focused approach to research and collaboration
• Full proficiency in English
  

Place of employment and place of work:
The place of employment is Aarhus University, and the place of work Mechanical and Production Engineering, Katrinebjergvej 89F, 8200 Aarhus N., Denmark.

Contacts:
Applicants seeking further information are invited to contact:

• Ramin Aghababaei, [email protected] (main supervisor)
• Alessandro Lucantonio, [email protected] (co-supervisor)

How to apply:
Please follow this link to submit your application.

Application deadline is 15 March 2025 at 23:59 CET

Preferred starting date is 01 July 2025

For information about application requirements and mandatory attachments, please see our application guide.

Please note:

• Only documents received prior to the application deadline will be evaluated. Thus, documents sent after deadline will not be taken into account.
• The programme committee may request further information or invite the applicant to attend an interview.
• Shortlisting will be used, which means that the evaluation committee only will evaluate the most relevant applications.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants. All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background. Salary and terms of employment are in accordance with applicable collective agreement.