Essi Sarlin

My research in the research group of Plastics and Elastomer Technology is focused mainly on polymer and elastomer based composites and polymer/metal hybrids. Tailoring the interfacial properties between the reinforcements and matrix and controlling the degradation of the structure, are typically my main research questions. In addition, I am very interested in the correlation between microscopic and macroscopic test results, which I think is the key to implement scientific research results into industrial applications. In addition to traditional experimental test methods, micro-robotic test concept is often applied used in my research projects, which allows us to study the mechanical properties of fibres and fibre/matrix interfaces in micro scale and enables unique possibilities to study the degradation of composite materials in a reliable manner. I am actively collaborating with industrial and academic partners internationally and have been a visiting research fellow in the Polymer Competence Center Leoben, Austria (2017) and in the Composite Materials Group of KU Leuven, Belgium (2019).