Description Join us this summer on MECHANO-FLEX, an exciting research internship exploring cutting-edge materials for the future of electrical insulation. Over 10 weeks, you’ll gain hands-on lab experience in thin-film deposition and mechanical testing, helping develop flexible ceramic coatings that could transform high-performance electrical machines and power electronics. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to real-world research, grow your technical and scientific skills, and work within a world-class university environment. Project Title: MECHANO-FLEX: Testing MECHanical performance of thin-film AlN coatings fOr FLEXible electrical insulation applications Project Duration : 10 weeks Start Date: Monday 23 June 2025 End Date: Friday 19 September 2025 Working Hours: 36.25 hours over 5 days. You are expected to work such hours as are necessary to fulfil your role with 36.25 hours being the notional requirement for the working week. To enable flexibility to meet organisational priorities there are no specified hours of work although you are required to attend by arrangement with the Project Supervisor or designated person at such times as may be necessary for the proper discharge of all your duties in the University. You will be required to take an unpaid meal break of at least ½ hour if you work continuously for more than five hours on any working day. However, if you work a full day i.e. 7.25 hours, you should take an unpaid meal break of one hour. Pay Rate: £12.50 per hour plus holidy pay Location: University park campus (Wolfson, ITRC and nmRC buildings) Dress Code: lab coat, safety glasses, nitrile gloves, steelite protector work boot The duties will include: Engage with project teams to define project requirements Lab work: thin film deposition, materials characterisation and testing Write up project as a report and prepare a presentation Skills and experience required for the role: Predicted degree grade 2:1 or above. Registered for an undergraduate degree in a subject that falls within the EPSRC remit, namely in chemistry, engineering, materials, and physics. In the middle years of their degree. Students in their final year who will have completed their degree by the summer are ineligible. Effective oral and written skills in order to communicate effectively with staff and colleagues. Good English language skills. What you can expect to gain during this role: This internship is a student's opportunity to obtain practical first-hand experience of working on and carrying out groundbreaking materials research in a UK university. This project will build next-generation thinking and practical skills for the student on preparation of novel thin film materials and their characterisation for advanced electrical insulation applications. Widening Participation Criteria Please note that candidates must fulfil at least one of the following criteria: · Identify as having Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) ethnicity · Identify their gender as being female or non-binary · Be in receipt of a University of Nottingham core bursary or Nottingham Potential bursary · Have a declared disability · Most recent school or college was a state school, i.e. not a private school · Be a mature student (21 or over at the start of their undergraduate course) · Have spent more than three months in local authority care · Be under 25 and estranged from their family · Be a carer · Have refugee status from the Home Office · The home address used on their UCAS application is in an area where people are less likely to go to university Students can check their postcode here to see if this criteria applies to them Project Description MECHANO-FLEX aims to systematically investigate the influence of film thickness on the fracture behaviour, adhesion strength, and mechanical flexibility of thin-film aluminium nitride (AlN) coatings, generating critical insights into their structural integrity and enabling their application in next-generation flexible electrical insulation. Background My recent studies indicate that advanced thin-film ceramic coatings of AlN have the potential to revolutionise electrical insulation in power electronics (PE) and electrical machine (EM) engineering, owing to the ability of this inorganic material to withstand extremely high temperatures, exceptionally high dielectric breakdown strength (>1kV/µm) and thermal conductivity (up to 290 W/m·K) [1]. With superior electrically insulating and heat dissipating properties, the ceramic coatings can replace conventional organic electrical insulation and enable EMs and PE units to operate at previously inaccessibly high temperatures (>500°C), power densities, and voltages to achieve maximum efficiency required by the next-generation electrification technologies. Our preliminary simulations indicate that these innovative high-temperature ceramic coatings could improve the power density of an industrial motor by 50%, if used as insulation of magnet wires, — a major engineering breakthrough [1]. This enhancement would be particularly transformative in aerospace (aircraft, drones, satellites) where the efficiency, light weight, compactness, and reliability of motors, generators, and actuators under extreme conditions are crucial. However, the brittle nature of ceramics has traditionally restricted their use to rigid components. Inspired by the improved strength of glass fibres compared to bulk glass, this project explores whether thin-film processing can similarly enable AlN to function as a mechanically robust yet flexible electrical insulator. Objectives Fabricate adherent AlN coatings on copper (Cu) substrates with graded/blended adhesion interlayers (Weeks 1–4). Experimentally test the mechanical performance of AlN coatings of varying thickness (30 nm–50 µm) (Weeks 2–9). Establish correlations between coating thickness and mechanical performance, and compile results into a final report (Week 10). Methods Ten batches of AlN coatings will be deposited via pulsed DC magnetron sputtering (TEER UDP-650) onto flexible Cu substrates. Coating thicknesses will be verified using stylus profilometry (KLA Tencor D-120 Nano). Hardness will be characterised by nanoindentation (Micro Materials NanoTest P3), and adhesion will be assessed via pull-off tests (PAThandy, DFD Instruments) and scratch testing (CETR UMT). To evaluate flexibility, in-situ two-point bending and fatigue tests will be performed on the ceramic coatings deposited on flexible Cu foil using a motorised tensile/compression bending stage (Deben Microtest MT200). The onset of cracking and delamination will be observed via optical microscopy. The minimum bending radius will be defined by conforming the samples to steel cylinders with variable radii. Post-test characterisation will include SEM imaging and EDS mapping (Hitachi TM4000Plus tabletop system). The crack density will be generated from surface images and analysed using ImageJ software. Critical failure modes will be determined by observation of cracking and delamination in the coatings. References: [1] Kudrynskyi et al. IEEE 5th Intern. Conf. on Dielectrics, 2024, doi: 10.1109/ICD59037.2024.10613279. Application Instructions: Application Closing Date : 12 May 2025 The Careers and Employability Service supports student and alumni to make choices about their future after their studies. To support you every step of the way, the team can help you to: ace the recruitment process providing advice on CV writing and interview preparation. explore a wide range of careers areas through web resources and sector events. connect with employers with vacancies through careers fairs. generate career ideas if you're not sure what you want to do. develop the skills you need to be successful in the workplace. Go to the Careers and Employability Service website to find out more. Our University is a supportive, inclusive, caring and positive community. We warmly welcome those of different cultures, ethnicities and beliefs – indeed this very diversity is vital to our success, it is fundamental to our values and enriches life on campus. We welcome applications from UK, Europe and from across the globe. Further information: The University of Nottingham will ask you whether you have any unspent criminal convictions as part of our pre-assignment checks. If the position you are applying for is ‘exempt’ from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 you will be asked to confirm both spent and unspent convictions at the point of offer. Examples of such posts include clinical, medical and allied health roles, roles involving childcare services. A DBS check may also be required. The University will only use information relating to criminal convictions where the law allows us to do so in line with our Data Protection Policy. Personal data relating to criminal convictions will be retained confidentially and securely and access to that data will be strictly controlled. More information relating to the manner in which we process your personal data is located within our privacy notice for staff, job applicants and others working at the University. Information about your rights relating to the use of your personal data can be found within our website privacy notice. 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