Giacomo Moretti

This thesis aims to develop concepts of fully-polymeric coil-free electrostatic loudspeakers, based on dielectric polymers.

The work will include design and modelling considerations, the development of testing procedures (combining vibration and acoustic measurements), and the characterisation of different dielectric polymer materials for the target application. 

The objective of this thesis is to develop and demonstrate concept of soft robotic structures that combine compliant mechanisms and fluid gap electroactive polymers. The activities covered by this thesis work include: concept generation of integrated actuator-robot structures; definition of manufacturing techniques; design and implementation of a characterisation testbench; testing and validation 

In cooperation with Saarland University, Germany (possibility of spending a visiting period) 

The objective of this thesis is to support an ongoing PhD project (Saarland Uni.) that aims to develop fully-flexible wearable interfaces for tactile and acoustic feedback, based on dielectric elastomers. The student will be responsible of design/modelling activities (structural modelling, FEM, electro-elastic models) and will have the opportunity to validate their designs experimentally. 

This activity aims to provide fundamental insight into a new class of high performance electrostatic actuators, called fluid gap transducers, which are variable capacitors embedding dielectric polymer and fluid layers.

We aim to systematically investigate the influence of different material properties on the actuators performance. The candidate will support the activity of a PhD student by designing a setup for the charaterisation of the force in zipping multi-layer dielectrics, and perform tests on different materials combinations (dielectric polymers and fluids)