I am a second year PhD student within the CDT for Polymers, Soft Materials and Colloids – working on a project that lies within the overlap of polymers and acoustics. My background is in Chemistry, where I looked at the development of polymer composites for electrochemical storage.
Research interests
My research interests are based around the use of polymers and polymer composites to solve a range of problems, to date I have looked at applications ranging from energy storage to acoustics.
Current research
At present, my research is looking into the use of polymeric fibres and their composites for use in automotive acoustic and thermal insulation. This research involves the culmination of modelling, parameter measurements and chemical synthesis and modification to yield fibres with high efficiencies.
A key part of this research to date has been to understand how the material parameters of the polymer fibres affect the acoustic properties – which has been accomplished using a mixture of acoustical measurements and inversion modelling.
This understanding has allowed for the synthesis of specifically tailored polymeric fibres which can maximise the acoustic absorption. The synthesis of these fibres is currently being done through several routes, including electrospinning and melt-spinning methods, and will form the bulk of my research for the coming months.
Publication
- A. Hurrell, M. Pelegrinis, Non-wovens Next Top Model?, Proceedings of the Institute of Acoustics, 2016, 38(1), 407