Erasmus+ traineeship at the Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany
Published: 28. jan. 2020
As a IPS PhD student, I was determined to enhance my knowledge of spoken and written scientific English language and gain international experience at a foreign research institution. Since one of my research interests is electrical and mechanical characterization of dielectric and piezoelectric materials, I decided to carry out my Erasmus+ traineeship at the Materials Science Ceramics Group of the Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany.
My main responsibility in Darmstadt was the development of a new custom-made measurement system, which enables impedance measurement of piezoceramics using combined voltage signals. To achieve this goal, I had to first construct the hardware that contains appropriate safety features for protection of the measurement system, measured piezoelectric samples and users. Subsequently, I developed dedicated software that enables automated measurement and calibration of the measurement system. During the final stage of the research stay, the setup was put together and first reference samples could be successfully tested. The new setup will enable us to study two group of electroactive materials in a completely new way.
This traineeship was extremely useful for both sides, predominantly due to its interdisciplinary. It will initiate two joint scientific publications of the Jožef Stefan Institute and Technische Universität Darmstadt, and future collaboration between research groups.
