Lectures Notes on Advanced Structured Materials

The book on advanced structured materials is designed to facilitate teaching and informal discussion in a supportive and friendly environment. The book provides a forum for postgraduate students to present their research results and train their presentation and discussion skills. Furthermore, it allows for extensive discussion of current research being conducted in the wider area of advanced structured materials. Doing so, it builds a wider postgraduate community and offers networking opportunities for early career researchers. In addition to focused lectures, the book provides specialized teaching/overview lectures from experienced senior academics. The 2022 Postgraduate Seminar entitled “Advanced Structured Materials: Development - Manufacturing - Characterization – Applications” was held from February 28^th till March 4^th, 2022, in Malta. The book that presented postgraduate lectures had a strong focus on polymer mechanics, composite materials, and additive manufacturing.

Andreas Öchsner is a Full Professor for lightweight design and structural simulation at the Esslingen University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Having obtained a Dipl.-Ing. degree in Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Stuttgart (1997), Germany, he served as a Research and Teaching Assistant at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg from 1997 to 2003 while working to complete his Doctor of Engineering Sciences (Dr.-Ing.) degree. From 2003 to 2006, he was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Head of the Cellular Metals Group affiliated with the University of Aveiro, Portugal. He spent seven years (2007–2013) as a Full Professor at the Department of Applied Mechanics, Technical University of Malaysia, where he was also Head of the Advanced Materials and Structure Lab. From 2014-2017, he was a Full Professor at the School of Engineering, Griffith University, Australia, and Leader of the Mechanical Engineering Program (Head of Discipline and Program Director).

Markus Merkel is a Full Professor for Engineering Design at Aalen University of Applied Sciences, Germany. He obtained an Engineering degree (Dipl.-Ing.) at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany) in Mechanical Engineering (1993). From 1994 he served as Research and Teaching Assistant at the Institute for Mechanics and finished his PhD-studies (Dr.-Ing.) in 1998. He worked at the International Technical Development Centre of Adam Opel AG (Germany) between 1999 and 2004 and became Professor at Aalen University at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science in 2004. He is Program Director for Product Development and Manufacturing within the Master program and Head of the Institute for Virtual Product Development.