Dr. Ghodrat, S.

Sepideh Ghodrat is assistant professor of Shape Morphing Design at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. Her main research interests are Smart Materials and Shape Morphing Design in emerging materials group at the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering.

Academic Background

Prior to joining IDE in October 2018, Sepideh Ghodrat has studied for her PhD and worked as a Postdoc in the Materials Science and Engineering department of the 3mE Faculty at Delft University of Technology. Her previous research included a wide range of topics: material properties, fracture and failure analysis, characterization techniques such as advanced mechanical testing including fatigue and thermo-mechanical fatigue. In addition to mechanical characterization, she also acquired ample experience with microscopic observation techniques (e.g. electron microscopy) in order to obtain a better understanding of the performance of materials under various loading conditions.

Education

Feb 2009 – Feb 2013
PhD Materials Science and Engineering, Delft University of Technology
Project Title: Thermo-Mechanical Fatigue of Compacted Graphite Iron in Diesel Engine Components

Experience

October 2018 – present
Assistant professor, Emerging Materials, Design Engineering, TU Delft
April 2018 – October 2018
npk design bv
March 2013 – March 2018
Post-Doctoral Research Associate at Delft University of Technology and Ghent University (UGent), Belgium

Lectures and/or coaches students on:

Mechanics of Materials and Characterization Techniques
Materials Testing
Material Driven Design (MDD)
Designing Shape Morphing Objects with Shape Memory Materials

"Imagine you would receive a 2D plate from your friend in your mailbox with a short note on it: “put me in hot water, remove me after 30 second and see your surprise”; within this short time the plate changes to an amazing 3D shape. Or imagine objects that can adapt their size to different users, or imagine u handle atool from a specific material that can transform to two or more shapes depending on the required functionalities. A number of good practices have been made and presented to develop shape morphing objects or devices that provide adaptability and customizability to the specific users such as deployable structures, hugging wearable accessories, self-sizable adaptable shoes, interactive lamps, self-sizable adaptable grips, self-regulating jackets or self-foldable furniture. Shape morphing objects can be used in many domains such as healthcare, biomechanics, robotics, personalized products, automotive and aerospace.

Shape memory materials are a specific category of smart materials which are metallic, polymeric or a composite of both. Designers use these materials and give free rein to their creativity to make interactive objects which have a dynamic relation with users. Recent development of advanced prototyping and 3D printing technology has enabled flexible and user-oriented manufacturing methods in designing such shape morphing objects."