1. Please introduce yourself.

My name is Ignazio Bañares Cerdà.

I am 22-years old and from Barcelona.

I study Materials Engineering at the University of Barcelona.           

2. How did you hear about Access e.V. and how did you end up here?

I met my internship tutor and Access contact, Ivan Cazic, in a presentation (“Effect of Laser Remelting and Surface Texturing on the Photocatalytic Performance of Ag–Al Alloys for Dye Degradation” ) he held at my home university in Barcelona. He offered that whoever wanted to do an internship- or work experience with his organization (Access e.V.) should go talk to him. I did so and ended up here.

3. What projects are you working on? What are you researching?

The official title of my internship subject is: “Effect of Laser Remelting and Surface Texturing on the Photocatalytic Performance of Ag–Al Alloys for Dye Degradation”.
In other words: I am working to the improve the cleansing time of dye-polluted waters through laser processing of the silver- and aluminium alloys.

4. Which tasks does your work as an intern include?

I designed and prepared different samples with different compositions and then gave them a specific shape. Then I applied laser remelting (microstructure changing process) and laser engraving (surface treatment) which was the whole point of the research.
I also studied and characterized the samples with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to better understand what changes were achieved through said processes.

5. How has been your experience so far?

I am very grateful for the opportunity that I have been given. Overall, it has been a thorough learning experience, very enriching, and above everything, something that has allowed me to see in first person what kind of work a Materials Engineer can do.
In conclusion, the experience is very positive.

6. Would you recommend Access for an Internship?

Of course! I think it is a very interesting organization where anyone can learn from different areas.

7. If yes, what would you maybe tell someone who is interested in doing an internship here?

In my opinion, Access is a very international and friendly environment where you can know so many different people. There are people working in such different working areas that you can learn quite a lot from diverse aspects of metallurgy. I was personally surprised to see so many people working on simulation processes, something that I didn’t even know that existed.

8. Have there been difficulties? Are there things with that could potentially be better?

While being an intern, I didn’t have an official contract with Access, and I had no previous working experience, which means I learnt everything here. That is good on one side, because it means I have adapted to the organization’s working method. On the other side, I have had some difficulties to advance in my research since I was required to have supervision on some processes. That is understandable, but it might have been a bit frustrating on some occasions.