DrDimitrios Bikos

Dimitris is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Mechanics of Materials division within the Department of Mechanical Engineering. His core research focuses on the fundamental understanding and design of multiphase composites with tailored mechanical performance for a range of industrial applications.

As part of his postdoctoral work, he is advancing the understanding of how real microscopic imperfections in fibre-reinforced polymer composites, and the interactions between their constituents, affect overall mechanical performance, through finite element modelling. His research is part of the mechanistic modelling work package of the EPSRC-funded NextCOMP project, which aims to improve the absolute compressive performance of fibre-reinforced polymer composites.

In 2022, Dimitris completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering, where he investigated the effect of micro-aeration on the mechanical and thermal properties of chocolate under oral processing conditions. His project was part of the EPSRC-funded Theory and Simulation of Materials Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT), and was conducted in collaboration with Nestlé Product Technology Centre (PTC). The work involved interdisciplinary collaboration across the Mechanics of Materials, Thermofluids, and Tribology divisions at Imperial, and the sensory team at Nestlé. His PhD thesis was recognised with two prestigious awards: the Margaret Fischenden Centenary Memorial Prize for the best PhD thesis over a five-year period in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and the Johnson Matthey PhD Prize for the best PhD thesis of 2022 within the Theory and Simulation of Materials CDT (cohort entry 2017).