Projets Matériaux / Research Projects – 2026
Semester Projects – Fall 2026
Master Thesis – Fall 2026
Dynamic and Reprocessable Elastomers
Elastomers are widely used in applications that require large deformation, mechanical resilience, and reliable recovery. However, conventional elastomers are typically permanently crosslinked, which makes them difficult to repair, reprocess, or recycle after damage or at the end of their lifetime. Developing elastomers that combine high mechanical performance with dynamic behavior and improved circularity therefore remains an important challenge.
This project aims to develop dynamic elastomeric materials that retain their mechanical integrity while gaining functions such as self-healing, reshaping, reprocessing, and recycling. The project will explore how polymer network design can be used to combine mechanical robustness with dynamic behavior and reprocessability. We will investigate how network composition, connectivity, and architecture influence mechanical performance, damage recovery, and the ability of the material to be reshaped and reprocessed while retaining its original properties.
The work will involve the design, preparation, and characterization of elastomeric networks with tunable properties. Different material formulations will be explored, and their mechanical behavior, recovery, and reprocessability will be systematically evaluated to understand how network design controls performance and recyclability.
If you are interested or have any questions, please contact Nicole Edelstein Pardo at [email protected]
Air Moisture Curable, 3D Printable Double Network Granular Elastomers
Elastomers can be 3D printed via direct ink writing (DIW) by formulating them as microparticles that are jammed. By swelling these microparticles in a precursor solution, a second elastomer network can be formed. The resulting Double Network Granular Elastomers (DNGEs) retain their shape under deformation and display higher toughness than single network elastomers.
Previously, UV initiation was used to form the second network in DNGEs, but this approach is not suitable for opaque samples. Thermal initiation was explored as an alternative, yet heating causes microparticles to shrink and expel the precursor solution, thereby compromising shape fidelity and mechanical properties. Using ambient moisture as a trigger for crosslinking offers a promising alternative.
In this project, you will first synthesize prepolymers that crosslink upon exposure to air moisture. You will characterize their chemical structure with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopies, and quantify their water content by Karl Fischer titration. You will study how parameters such as polymer type, functionality, molecular weight, catalyst, and humidity influence curing time and mechanical properties. You will then prepare elastomer microparticles via emulsion polymerization and swell them in the synthesized prepolymers. You will investigate the rheology and 3D printability of jammed reagent-loaded elastomer microparticles, and after curing, you will characterize their mechanical properties.
If you are interested or have any questions, please contact François Rivat at [email protected].
Meta-Stable Particle Synthesis for Low Energy Sintering
Fabrication of brittle, non-ductile materials with high melting points – such as ceramics – requires a powder technology-based processing route with a consolidating and densifying heat treatment at the end: the sintering step. Sintering is typically done between 0.6-0.8 times the fusion temperature (in K) for several hours. This processing step therefore involves thermally activated diffusion mechanisms that may lead to rapid microstructural changes, largely affecting the mechanical, physical and chemical properties of the final material.
As a means to lower the energy needs for sintering to occur and offer new pathways for the advanced microstructure and thus property engineering of technical ceramics and minerals, synthesis of meta-stable powders is a promising research avenue for future scientific and technological breakthroughs.
In this project, we will study the effects of the crystallinity, chemistry, additives and size on the consolidation behavior of calcium carbonates, as a model material. The student will synthesize his/her own materials, varying the synthesis conditions in a controlled manner. Prior to studying the sintering behavior of the synthesized powder, thorough characterization will be performed, to learn and understand how the synthesis conditions will affect the powder properties (XRD, in-situ XRD, TGA, DSC, SEM/EDS, …). Conventional and flash sintering will be done in convention and SPS ovens, directly following in-situ the shrinkage of the samples.
We expect to build correlations of synthesis conditions and meta-stability of the particles with the sintering behavior and microstructural development of the product to build a roadmap for bringing the approach to other ceramic materials.
The project will start at EPFL with initial training and familiarization with the particle synthesis process, before following-up at Empa in Dübendorf.
For more information on this interesting opportunity in an emerging research field contact: Prof. Dr. Esther Amstad ([email protected]), and Dr. Michael Stuer ([email protected]).