Insulation is an important way to reduce energy consumption and therefore CO2 emissions in the built environment. Older houses especially require renovation to achieve this goal. There are many insulation materials available but one of the most promising ones is silica aero gel, an ultra-lightweight material that can contain more than 99% air. It also has the advantage of being safe in the case of a fire as it does not produce toxic fumes. However, the aero gel that is currently available is expensive to produce and not very sustainable.
The goal of this PhD is the development of green aero gel containing solid prefab material and binders that can be used as wall filling and roof insulation. The binder material will be polymer based. The green aero gel itself is based on a synthesis process to make nano-silica developed in the Building Materials Group at TU/e. The work is supported by industrial partners as part of the project BRIMM (Bright Renovatie Isolatie voor woningschil door Advanced Materialen en Methodes).
The Building Materials group contains 23 PhDs, 2 postdocs, 3 assistant professors, 1 associate professor and 2 full professors. The BM group works on new, sustainable building materials containing or synthesized from secondary raw materials with good chemical, physical and aesthetic properties and added functionalities. Examples are natural fibers, fly ashes, nano-silica, aerogels, slags or recycled aggregates. Functionalities, including fire resistance, air purification, self-cleaning, high performance, hydrophobicity, are investigated and developed for these building materials. Moreover, durability, such as the degradation of building materials when exposed to aggressive service environments, is studied. The investigations are carried out based on experimental observations and modelling.
The research group possesses a well-equipped, state of the art building material laboratory for physical/chemical/mechanical/environmental testing, and has access to the structural design laboratory at the same department, and shares facilities with the sister Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry. The group has close contacts with the building material industry and is frequently cooperating with other researchers, both domestic and international.
We are looking for:
Any of the following could be considered an advantage and should be mentioned in the motivation letter:
Candidates who already hold the title of PhD/Doctor will not be considered for the current vacancy.
We offer:
More information
Do you recognize yourself in this profile and would you like to know more? Please contact
prof.dr.ir. H.J.H. Brouwers, h.j.h.brouwers[at]tue.nl or dr. K. Schollbach, k.schollbach[at]tue.nl.
For information about terms of employment, click here or contact HRServices.be[at]tue.nl
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