Mechanical & Thermal Battery Test Engineer

Title: Mechanical & Thermal Battery Test Engineer

Location: Cupertino, CA

Job Summary:

Seeking a hands-on Test Engineer to design, develop, and run mechanical and controlled-heating test methods for material, cell, and battery-module evaluation. The engineer will own test methodology, fixture and setup design, equipment programming, data acquisition, analysis, and reporting, while guiding technicians through sample preparation and test execution.

Core Testing Scope

1. Mechanical material characterization: Develop and execute tensile testing using dog-bone specimens and compression testing of brittle or similar samples for mechanical-property calibration. Design suitable grips and fixtures for the test specimens.

2. Shock testing: Plan and execute battery-module shock tests using dedicated shock-test equipment. Select and attach accelerometers, capture acceleration-versus-time data, and support measurement of high-speed dynamic events.

3. Controlled-heating safety testing: Program and operate temperature- and humidity-controlled environmental chambers to run prescribed heating profiles on charged batteries and measure swelling and deformation during the test.

Responsibility:

• Develop test methodologies and protocols for mechanical material characterization, shock testing, and controlled-heating safety tests.
• Material testing for simulation input calibration

• Design test fixtures, grips, and setups for tensile, compression, shock, and heating tests.

• Program and operate Instron test systems; acquire test data and generate test reports.

• Use Digital Image Correlation (DIC), including specimen speckle preparation and high-frame-rate camera-based tracking, to measure motion, strain, swelling, and deformation.

• Define sample-preparation approaches and guide technicians in extracting or preparing specimens from finished batteries using appropriate cutting or machining processes.

• Configure instrumentation, including accelerometers and data-acquisition setups, for shock and other dynamic tests.

• Prepare SOPs, document test configurations and results, analyze data, and communicate findings to support engineering decisions.

• Collaborate with laboratory technicians and external laboratories to ensure correct execution of test plans and close test-capability gaps.

Qualification:

• MS in Mechanical Engineering or a related discipline with 3 years of relevant experience, or BS with 5+ years of relevant experience.

• Hands-on experience with tensile and compression testing for mechanical-property characterization.

• Strong hands-on experience programming and operating Instron test systems and extracting data or reports from the equipment.
• Must have hands-on experience with the following and able to guide technicians and trouble shoot as needed
  • Instron experience with programming the controller for different speeds and load vs. displacement control to perform tensile and compression tests, fixture design (CAD), sample preparation, battery cell tear-down experience, documentation of standard operating procedures, digital-image-correlation (DIC) for strain measurements.
  • thermocouple mounting / temperature measurements, pressure and flow rate sensors

• Hands-on familiarity with Digital Image Correlation (DIC) methods and high speed video / high-frame-rate camera-based deformation measurement.

• Experience designing test fixtures, grips, and mechanical test setups.

• Working experience with shock or vibration testing (motion and acceleration measurement), accelerometers, and high-speed dynamic data acquisition.

• Experience programming and operating controlled temperature/humidity environmental chambers.
• Heating/Oven/Environmental chamber testing including pressure and temperature monitoring

• Ability to analyze test data, document methods, and produce clear technical reports.
• Work is expected to be a mix of hands on work, data analysis, summarizing, collaborating with test technicians

Preferred Background

• Automotive, consumer electronics, structural/mechanical test, reliability, or similar laboratory testing experience.
• Awareness of specimen preparation methods such as laser cutting, water-jet cutting, or machining.
• Battery-specific test experience is helpful but not mandatory; battery cycling experience is not required.