Effect of blending on thermal behaviour of polymers

Company Information
Veridis wants to create a better future for humanity and the planet. Our mission is to deliver key recycling technologies to advance the transition to a circular economy. We are trying to create a place of work where scientists and engineers can develop technical opportunities to benefit society and the climate. To achieve these objectives, we offer a challenging internship with flexible working hours, an informal atmosphere, and a lot of independence and responsibility.

Veridis is a deep-tech startup developing a new system to improve quality control in plastic recycling: MAssive DSC ANalysis (MADSCAN). This technology is a new thermal analysis method that recyclers can use to analyse plastics/polymers to give the material characteristics (type, degradation, etc.). With our MADSCAN technology, we scale up the sample size of a thermal analysis by a factor of 100.000, which allows us to give a representative analysis of large batches of plastics, thereby increasing the relevance to the recycling industry. With this method, we can analyse dark plastics, detect material degradation, and, most importantly, directly improve recycled plastics’ commercial value.

Assignment Description
Within this internship you will be researching the effect of polymer mixing on their physical properties and in specific, their thermal properties. The focus will be a literature review on these effects, focussing on a small subset of polymers. This will require combining the information of different measurement methods and datasets. If everything goes well, the found conclusions can be compared to MADSCAN measurements of (recycled) polymer samples. Even proposing and performing tests might be applicable in order to verify the assumptions or conclusions made. All this can also lead to a possible publication.

This internship assignment will allow you to impact the improvement of plastic recycling and, therefore, the circular transition as a whole. Because of the multidisciplinary start-up environment, you will learn a lot from different disciplines. And most importantly, you will develop your research skills a lot by working independently on a challenging project with the rest of the team to give unique insights to help you. Finally, if the internship works out well, we are always interested in considering extending your stay with us or even taking you on board as an employee.

Intern Profile
You are a creative and curious person who is not afraid of a challenge and working with complex literature that seems overwhelming at first. You like taking initiative and contributing new ideas or research directions. You have high standards with the ability to dive deep, critically evaluate the work of yourself and others, and relate the research you are performing to the MADSCAN system output. You can condense state-of-the-art papers at an academic level and extract relevant conclusions from those.

Requirements:
• Currently enrolled in or having acquired a MSc student in (Applied) Physics, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, or anything related to those.

Preferences (not requirements):
• Basic knowledge of polymer science
• Experience with thermal analysis methods

Contact Details
Floris Gerritsen - fjagerritsen@veridis.tech
https://veridis.tech/
Address: De Boelelaan 1081 - VU WN-Building O236

Semi-Analytical Thermal Polymer Analysis

Company Information
Veridis has the ambitious goal to create a better future for humanity and the planet, our mission is to deliver key recycling technologies to advance the transition to a circular economy. We are trying to create a place of work where scientists and engineers can develop technical opportunities for the benefit of society and climate. To achieve these objectives we are offering an internship with flexible working hours, an informal atmosphere, and a lot of independence and responsibility.

Veridis is a deep-tech startup developing a novel instrument to improve quality control in plastic recycling: MAssive DSC ANalysis (MADSCAN). This MADSCAN technology is based on Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), a thermal analysis technique. DSC can be used to analyse plastics/polymers to give a material characterisation (material type, degradation, etc.). With our MADSCAN technology we scale up the sample size of a DSC by a factor 100.000. This allows us to give a representative analysis of large batches of plastics, thereby increasing the relevance to the recycling industry. With this method we are able to analyse dark plastics, detect material degradation, and most importantly we directly increase the commercial value of recycled plastics.

Assignment Description
Within this internship you will be working on a semi-analytical model used to analyse MADSCAN data in an innovative way. You will be expanding the current model by introducing material property effects, using new ways to extract more data as well as improving the performance of the model. There is also room to introduce an improved or new theoretical basis for the analysis. A lot of the work will evolve around partial differential equations due to the thermal nature of the problem. All the theoretical work can be compared to simulation and potentially real system measurements for validation and improvement.

This internship assignment will allow you to have an impact on the improvement of plastic recycling and therefore on the circular transition as a whole. Because of the multidisciplinary start-up environment you will learn a lot from different disciplines. And most importantly, you will develop your research skills a lot by working independently on a challenging project with the rest of the team to give unique insights to help you. Finally, if the internship works out well we are always interested to consider extending your stay with us or even taking you on board as an employee.

Intern Profile
You are a creative and curious person who is not afraid of a challenge and working with the inherent uncertainty that novel technological development brings. You like taking initiative and contributing new ideas about how to improve. Also, critical thinking and the ability to relate instrument specifications to relevant constraints and boundary conditions. You are able to produce and analyse mathematical models at an academic level and are capable of communicating the results, problems and next steps clearly.

Requirements:
• Currently enrolled in a Dutch university MSc (or third year BSc) student in (Applied) Physics or (Applied) Mathematics
• Available at least 32 hours a week for at at least 3 months
• Experience in a coding language able to solve integrals and differential equations numerically (e.g. Python, Matlab, Mathematica)

Preferences (not requirements):
• Experience with working on partial differential equations
• Experience in thermal physics problems
• Basic knowledge of polymer physics

Please send your CV and list of grades to fjagerritsen@veridis.tech

Company Information
Veridis is a deep-tech startup developing a novel instrument to improve quality control in plastic recycling: MAssive DSC ANalysis (MADSCAN). This MADSCAN technology is based on Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), a thermal analysis technique. DSC can be used to analyse plastics/polymers to give a material characterisation (material type, degradation, etc.). With our MADSCAN technology we scale up the sample size of a DSC by a factor 100.000. This allows us to give a representative analysis of large batches of plastics, thereby increasing the relevance to the recycling industry. With this method we are able to analyse dark plastics, detect material degradation, and most importantly we directly increase the commercial value of recycled plastics.

Veridis has the ambitious goal to create a better future through science and technology. We are trying to create a place of work where scientists and engineers can develop technical opportunities for the benefit of society and climate. To achieve these objectives we are offering an internship with flexible working hours, an informal atmosphere, and a lot of independence and responsibility.

Assignment Description
Within this internship you will be working on a variety of problems connected to the data analysis of the proof of concept of our product. The main focus will be on research and customer driven data analysis of the thermal spectrum of polymers. The challenge can be approached from different angles: COMSOL simulation in order to better understand the system response, experimental verification of signal behaviour, data deconvolution using a mathematical model, etc. The data analysis is primarily done using Python. The assignment may also include customer interaction and collaboration.

This internship assignment will allow you to have an impact on the improvement of plastic recycling and therefore on the circular transition as a whole. Because of the multidisciplinary start-up environment you will learn a lot from different disciplines. And most importantly, you will develop your simulation and research skills a lot by working independently on a challenging project with the rest of the team to give unique insights to help you. Finally, if the internship works out well we are always interested to consider extending your stay or even taking you on board as an employee.

Intern Profile
You are a creative and curious person who is not afraid of a challenge and working with the inherent uncertainty that novel technological development brings. You like taking initiative and contributing new ideas about how to improve. Also, critical thinking and the ability to conceptually interpret thermal measurement data are required. You are able to analyse data at an academic level and are capable of communicating the results, problems and next steps clearly.

We are very flexible in time requirements; we would like to fill the internship position full time, but part time is also a possibility.

Requirements:
• Basic Python experience
• Master student in Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry or similar fields.

Preferences:
• Experience in thermal physics problems
• Knowledge of numerical analysis methods is a plus
• Basic or advanced knowledge of polymer physics
• Experience in writing python code in a professional manner
• Note that we can only consider students that are situated in the Netherlands during the duration of the internship. Please send your CV and list of grades to info@veridis.tech.

About us

At Veridis, we develop advanced technologies to empower plastic recycling. We are now building a deep-ultraviolet (DUV) Raman spectroscopy system for real-time analysis of irregularly shaped objects on a conveyor belt. A critical enabler is a dynamic beam steering and focus control system that can track and adjust to moving objects in real-time.

Your role

We are seeking a hands-on intern in Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, Robotics or Systems Engineering with an interest in working with control systems and optics, even if these areas are new to you. You will design and prototype a mock-up system that lays the groundwork for the development of the DUV Raman platform. This is a unique chance to contribute to an innovative system from the ground up.

Supervision & learning environment

You’ll work in a young, fast-paced start-up with a multidisciplinary team experienced in mechatronics, hardware interfacing, optics, and spectroscopy. You’ll receive Hands-on support for hardware prototyping and system integration. Regular feedback on software, machine vision, and control logic. Exposure to system-level engineering and real-world development cycles.

What will you do

You will actively contribute to building a functional prototype that enables real-time optical control. Your main activities include:

• Designing and assembling a visible-light beam steering and focus control setup.
• Developing object tracking using machine vision.
• Implementing beam steering laterally.
• Implementing axial focus control using a motorised translation stage.
• Integrate machine vision data with actuator control (serial protocols).
• Simulating conveyor motion to evaluate and optimise system performance.
• Documenting your work thoroughly to support further product development.

Required skills

• Python or C++ for hardware interfacing (e.g. with OpenCV, PySerial, or similar)
• Familiarity with machine vision libraries (e.g. OpenCV, Halcon, or similar)

Preferred skills

• Experience with stepper motor or servo control systems
• Experience with real-time control systems
• Familiarity with ROS or similar middleware
• Basic optics and laser safety

Why this matters

Your work will be a crucial step in developing and validating a critical control system for the DUV Raman spectrometer. This internship offers you the chance to build, test, and directly shape a high-impact system that contributes to advanced plastic recycling.

Application Process

If you are interested in this internship, please send your CV to our project manager, L. Zada, at lzada@veridis.tech. Please also indicate your availability for the internship period in your application. For more details about the role, feel free to reach out to L. Zada via the same email. 

We look forward to hearing from you!