Merci beaucoup d'avoir accepté l'interview.
Why did you decide to pursue a PhD in the first place?
My experience working as an application engineer in a metal cutting industry in India was the main motivation to pursue the PhD. With the opportunity to experience diverse machining applications across different customers, I became even more curious to understand the research and theoretical aspects of metal machining and was fortunate to find the thesis topic suiting both my interest and industry experience. So, I decided to move back to research after 6 years of industry experience. My educational background is masters in material science engineering from Germany and bachelor’s in industrial engineering from India.
Please briefly describe your thesis subject.
Modern day air-crafts are made of light weight, high strength materials in order to have better fuel to weight ratio which result in improving cost economy and reducing carbon foot print. Especially the wing assemblies and some of the fuselage structures are made of sandwich layers of aluminium, titanium and CFRP (Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer) which requires thousands of holes to be drilled during final assembly. The single shot drilling process results in a set of problems due to the different machinability of materials in the sandwich and the goal of my thesis was to optimise the drilling process for aerospace stacks which can lead to improved hole quality and productivity. This involved developing a methodology for identifying the material by real time data monitoring to adapt cutting parameters suitable for a specific material layer.
How did you experience your doctorate?
The overall experience of my doctoral studies was good, and it helped me to grow personally and professionally. I was able to have a microscopic approach to metal machining which was otherwise mostly macroscopic during my time in the industry. I was also extremely fortunate to have very friendly and supportive thesis supervisors who motivated and guided me to conduct my research in an efficient and enjoyable fashion. One of the few challenges I faced during the initial days of the PhD is to transit from industrial application engineer mindset workstyle to research-based approach in a laboratory-based setup in France. The other challenge was about the language as most of the colleagues/researchers spoke only French in the laboratory. It was sometimes difficult to coordinate/plan experimental activities or even attend seminars/presentations/meetings which were only in French. During those times, my supervisors intervened and would help me to navigate through these issues. But over a period, I could also network with a lot of international colleagues/friends and exchange ideas (both technical and cultural) which made me even more adaptive and communicative. I was also able to know about a lot of research tools and techniques which helped to conduct research independently with minor or no supervision over a period. Overall, PhD studies helped me to gain independent research experience in a laboratory apart from abilities to work in a dynamic and multi-cultural environment.
What position do you hold today and how does your PhD help you?
I am currently working as a R & D Engineer at a microfluidics research-based company in Paris. I am responsible for product design and prototyping of microfluidic based devices which requires knowhow of mechanical design and manufacturing. Also, I am responsible for internal testing (alpha tests) of the developed products to validate the product functionalities under extreme conditions. This involves design of experiments, analysis of the acquired experimental data and technical documentation which were all part of my PhD life in the previous laboratory. The overall time management skills acquired during my PhD helps me in planning and executing my project timelines efficiently. Also, time to time, I get the opportunity to explore different machining techniques in my product prototypes to improve the efficiency of the product.
What advice would you give to someone considering a PhD?
When you start your Phd thesis, especially if you are not from a research background (like in my case of industry), it seems like a lot of things on your plate to start with and different directions to take. It will be easier if you can break down the overall objectives to smaller objectives. This will help to progress faster and aids in choosing right directions to meet your thesis goals. Also, like in any other fields, there are ups and downs during your research work and keep calm, carry on!! Enjoy the process. All the best.