Semi-Analytical Thermal Polymer Analysis

Company Information

Veridis has the ambitious goal to create a better future for humanity and the planet, our mission is to deliver key recycling technologies to advance the transition to a circular economy. We are trying to create a place of work where scientists and engineers can develop technical opportunities for the benefit of society and climate. To achieve these objectives we are offering an internship with flexible working hours, an informal atmosphere, and a lot of independence and responsibility.

Veridis is a deep-tech startup developing a novel instrument to improve quality control in plastic recycling: MAssive DSC ANalysis (MADSCAN). This MADSCAN technology is based on Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), a thermal analysis technique. DSC can be used to analyse plastics/polymers to give a material characterisation (material type, degradation, etc.). With our MADSCAN technology we scale up the sample size of a DSC by a factor 100.000. This allows us to give a representative analysis of large batches of plastics, thereby increasing the relevance to the recycling industry. With this method we are able to analyse dark plastics, detect material degradation, and most importantly we directly increase the commercial value of recycled plastics.

Assignment Description

Within this internship you will be working on a semi-analytical model used to analyse MADSCAN data in an innovative way. You will be expanding the current model by introducing material property effects, using new ways to extract more data as well as improving the performance of the model. There is also room to introduce an improved or new theoretical basis for the analysis. A lot of the work will evolve around partial differential equations due to the thermal nature of the problem. All the theoretical work can be compared to simulation and potentially real system measurements for validation and improvement.

This internship assignment will allow you to have an impact on the improvement of plastic recycling and therefore on the circular transition as a whole. Because of the multidisciplinary start-up environment you will learn a lot from different disciplines. And most importantly, you will develop your research skills a lot by working independently on a challenging project with the rest of the team to give unique insights to help you. Finally, if the internship works out well we are always interested to consider extending your stay with us or even taking you on board as an employee.

Intern Profile

You are a creative and curious person who is not afraid of a challenge and working with the inherent uncertainty that novel technological development brings. You like taking initiative and contributing new ideas about how to improve. Also, critical thinking and the ability to relate instrument specifications to relevant constraints and boundary conditions. You are able to produce and analyse mathematical models at an academic level and are capable of communicating the results, problems and next steps clearly.

Requirements:

• Currently enrolled in a Dutch university MSc (or third year BSc) student in (Applied) Physics or (Applied) Mathematics
•  Available at least 32 hours a week for at at least 3 months
• Experience in a coding language able to solve integrals and differential equations numerically (e.g. Python, Matlab, Mathematica)

Preferences (not requirements):

• Experience with working on partial differential equations
• Experience in thermal physics problems
• Basic knowledge of polymer physics

Please send your CV and list of grades to fjagerritsen@veridis.tech