Postdoctoral Fellowship at
University of Malta

13 May 2024 marked the beginning of a new chapter in my academic journey – my first and official day as a postdoctoral fellow at the prestigious University of Malta. This page will be my platform to share my research project with titled "Elucidation of Crystallisation Process Using FFF 3D Printer Assisted IR Thermal Imaging Technique on Plastic Waste". Through this platform I will share my latest findings, methodologies, and insights across a diverse range of disciplines. This space is dedicated to showcasing the impactful work being carried out under the prestigious MSCA-Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme.
Get to Know the Project
Elucidation of Crystallisation Process Using FFF 3d Printer Assisted IR Thermal Imaging Technique on Plastic Waste

Nowadays, the issue of plastic recycling has become one of the major issues of environmental protection and waste management. The majority of plastic waste stemmed from semi-crystalline polymers such PE, PP and PET. Semi-crystalline polymers on average have better mechanical properties such as toughness compared to those of amorphous polymers. As a result, it is critical to comprehend how processing affects crystallisation and thus to warpage and shrinkage. Most of the crystallisation studies employ virgin materials, which are subsequently reused repeatedly to assess mechanical quality after each cycle. Crystallization occurs during the material processing which affects the final material or product attributes such as mechanical and optical properties. However, the existing techniques used to study crystallization such as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), hot-stage microscopy, X-ray synchrotron and in-situ light scattering have some restriction. Among them, it is not a simultaneous process (i.e., does not represent the actual crystal structure in the product), expensive, and requires a high energy radiation source. Furthermore, all the existing in-situ techniques were applied only to virgin plastic and were limited to transparent plastic with no additives or free from contamination. By studying the crystallisation process on the plastic waste which contain of additive with exact temperature will improve the production of new plastic products using industrial plastic waste. This project will be successfully managed by Zunaida (researcher) at University of Malta under the supervision of Dr. Arif Rochman and co-supervision of Dr. Paul Refalo for a period of 2 years.
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Contact
I'm always looking for new and exciting opportunities. Let's connect.


Marie Curie European Research Officer
Engineering Research & Innovation Laboratories (ERIL)
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
+356 7720 5013/zunaida.zakaria@um.edu.mt
Member of Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3)



































