Mechanical engineering internships

Supervisor: A/Prof Li Chang and Prof Jun Huang

Eligibility:WAM>80

Project Description:

This project studies the development of 3D-printed adsorbents to address operational limitations associated with conventionally structured adsorption materials. Cylindrical scaffolds based on a triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) configuration will be fabricated using advanced 3D-printing technology. In particular, a gyroid sheet TPMS structure will be considered due to its high surface-area-to-volume ratio and interconnected porous architecture, which are advantageous for gas adsorption applications. In particular, the gyroid lattice structure, characterized by a dense network of smooth and interconnected flow channels, significantly improved molecular transport, resulting in faster CO₂ adsorption kinetics compared with conventional powder adsorbents. For practical applications, the printed scaffolds can be subsequently surface-modified through a silanization process, enabling the incorporation of functional coatings to enhance adsorption performance. In this project, the comprehensive morphological and structural characterization will conducted to evaluate the CO₂ adsorption properties of the fabricated structures, focusing on adsorption capacity, kinetics, selectivity, and heat of adsorption. 

Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.

Supervisors: Dr Shuying Wu

Eligibility: WAM>75 and Undergraduate candidates must have already completed at least 96 credit points towards their undergraduate degree at the time of application.

Project Description:

This project focuses on the development of wearable sensors based on flexible and stretchable polymer nanocomposites for real-time monitoring of human motion and physiological signals. The project will explore elastic polymer nanocomposites based on polymers with high elastic stretchability and functional nanomaterials (e.g., conductive, piezoelectric nanomaterials) for creating mechanically robust electromechanical sensors for wearable devices. These materials can respond to mechanical stimuli such as strain, pressure, or bending, enabling their integration into skin-mounted sensors for continuous and non-invasive health monitoring.

The student will investigate material design, sensor fabrication, and characterization of sensing performance, including sensitivity, stability, and repeatability under repeated deformation. Potential applications include sports performance monitoring, rehabilitation tracking, and human–machine interfaces for soft robotics. Th project will offer hands-on experience in flexible electronics, printing techniques, polymer nanocomposite materials, and wearable sensing technologies, while contributing to the development of next-generation soft sensors that can seamlessly interface with the non-flat surfaces such as human body.

Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.

Supervisors: Dr Shuying Wu

Eligibility: WAM>75 and Undergraduate candidates must have already completed at least 96 credit points towards their undergraduate degree at the time of application.

Project Description: 

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are widely used in diverse sectors such as aerospace, automotive, renewable energy due to their high strength and lightweight properties. However, these structures are consistently exposed to unwanted vibration during use, accelerating structural failure and degrading their performance. Therefore, it is pivotal to enhance their damping properties, which remains largely unsolved.

This project aims to enhance the damping properties of FRP composites by developing a new approach using binary piezoelectric and conductive micro/nanofillers. This method mimics conventional bulky passive piezoelectric shunt damping systems but with much higher damping efficiency and lighter weight due to the integration of micro/nanofillers into composites. Expected outcome includes fundamental understanding and new knowledge of piezoelectric damping, which will guide future design of high-damping lightweight composites. The ability to more effectively reduce undesirable vibration will represent a game-changing technology to extend lifespan of a composite structure for broad applications where lightweight strong composites play an increasingly important role.

Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.

Supervisor: Dr Xianghai An

Eligibility: High achievement in a relevant undergraduate engineering degree (a WAM of 75 or above). This project has the option to be combined with an honours project.

Project Description:

The development of multifunctional metallic materials is at the frontier of materials science, enabling unprecedented combinations of strength, ductility, toughness, and functional properties. Emerging systems such as high-entropy alloys (HEAs), nanotwinned metals, hierarchically structured metals, and metal–graphene composites represent transformative pathways for engineering advanced performance beyond the limitations of conventional alloys. Their exceptional behaviours originate from engineered structural and chemical heterogeneities across multiple length scales, which unlock novel deformation mechanisms, damage tolerance, and functional responses.

In this project, we will employ advanced manufacturing techniques to construct complex hierarchical architectures in these materials. The focus will be on designing and tailoring nanoscale twins, gradient structures, layered architectures, and metal–graphene interfaces to achieve synergistic property combinations. By precisely controlling processing parameters, we aim to regulate defect structures, interface chemistry, and hierarchical organization to realize metals that are not only ultrastrong and damage-resistant but also exhibit functional capabilities such as enhanced thermal stability, corrosion resistance, or electrical/thermal conductivity.

This project will open new avenues for creating multifunctional metallic systems that combine superior mechanical resilience with application-driven functionalities. Outcomes will contribute to the design principles of next-generation structural and functional alloys, positioning them as enablers for advanced engineering, aerospace, and sustainable technologies.

Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.

Supervisor: Dr Xianghai An

Eligibility: High achievement in a relevant undergraduate engineering degree (a WAM of 75 or above). This project has the option to be combined with an honours project.

Project Description:

Materials come with characteristic combinations of mechanical properties. For example, ceramics have high stiffness but break easily; metals have high strength and ductility but limited ability to deform elastically. A vital requirement for all structural materials is that they possess an exceptional combination of stiffness, strength, ductility and damage tolerance. However, these characteristics cannot currently be obtained simultaneously. Although materials with different combinations of attributes can be designed by forming composites of different materials, it is still scientifically and technologically challenging to harvest desirable combination of properties.

To address these issues, in this project, we will propose a multi-design strategy, which encompasses the deliberate modulation of the phase constitution and architecture of metal-ceramic interpenetrating-phase composites that can be enabled by the combination of advanced manufacturing techniques. The newly designed materials will push the boundaries of materials properties beyond current benchmark ranges.

Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.

Supervisor: Dr Xianghai An

Eligibility: High achievement in a relevant undergraduate engineering degree (a WAM of 75 or above). This project has the option to be combined with an honours project.

Project Description:

High-performance alloys are the backbone of decarbonising innovations in manufacturing, infrastructure, energy, and transportation. Stronger alloys will substantially improve mechanical and energy efficiencies, which can benefit our economy and environment directly. However, high-strength materials typically have low ductility and are more vulnerable to fracture. Furthermore, they are also susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement (HE) in many service environments for renewable energy applications such as hydrogen transportation and the bearings of wind turbines. Hydrogen-induced embrittlement can lead to unpredictable and catastrophic failures at relatively low applied stresses. These critical shortcomings cause serious safety concerns but cannot be readily addressed by traditional materials development approaches that generally render materials property trade-offs between strength and ductility/HE resistance.

Gradient structures are an emerging material-design paradigm inspired by nature that has great potential to overcome these alloy design trade-offs. This project aims to develop an innovative design strategy of gradient segregation engineering (GSE) to produce high-performance alloys by synergistically introducing a chemical gradient via grain boundary (GB) segregation and a physical gradient by nanostructure control. The novel GSE will entail a synergy of multiscale strengthening mechanisms that offer an exceptional strength-ductility combination and simultaneously enable the hierarchical HE-resisting mechanisms to notably enhance the hydrogen tolerance.

Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.