Amalia Katalagarianakis

Amalia Katalagarianakis graduated from the Catholic University of Leuven (KULeuven) in 2018 as MSc in Materials Engineering, option Polymers and Composites. Her bachelor thesis focused on the interlaminar fracture toughness of hybrid carbon fibre/self-reinforced PP composites. The subject of her master thesis was the improvement of translaminar fracture toughness of composites via fibre-hybridisation. She joined the MeMC department in September 2018, as a PhD student working on additively manufactured polymer composites, under the supervision of prof. Lincy Pyl. The research work is part of a collaboration between the universities of Brussels (VUB), Gent (UGent), and Leuven (KULeuven). In the framework of this project, she is working on the valorisation of recycled short carbon fibres and recycled PET pellets through micro-tow placement, in collaboration with her colleague from UGent. In parallel, she is also investigating parts containing continuous fibres, which are more suitable for high-performance applications. More specifically, the research focuses on the assessment of the interlayer properties, using advanced non-destructive techniques like digital image correlation. Alongside her experimental work, Amalia is also a teaching assistant for bachelor courses, and supervising master theses.