Senior Design Program in Materials at Purdue UniversitySpeaker - John Krane
Professor - Purdue University
A new approach has been taken for the Senior Design program at Purdue University. Under the previous format, projects for Seniors were research oriented, and were performed individually. Under the current format the projects are industry driven, students of various engineering disciplines work together as a group on the project, and communication skills are emphasized at all stages.
The kinds of projects that Seniors work on are much more varied than previously, since they are dictated by real needs within the industrial sector. For materials engineers the projects do involve aspects of process, product, and failure analysis as well as material characterization and properties. Projects demand application of material characterization results to design and the real constraints and requirements of product production that are important to the sponsor.
The project format now consists of two full semesters. The project is initiated early in the Fall with a plant visit to the sponsor, where the scope of the project is defined. Each student then must conduct a literature review to become very familiar with the state-of-the-art of the product involved. Next the group will perform and interpret preliminary laboratory work as appropriate to the specific problem.
In the Spring semester lab work and any modeling of the process or product must be completed. Most importantly, conclusions must be drawn and specific recommendations given back to the sponsor.
To strengthen communication skills, midyear and final reports are given both in written and oral formats. Monthly progress reports are also required. Each student must also give a technical presentation on a topic of his/her own interest which is not related to the sponsored project.
The goal of the new program structure is to prepare each student for life-long learning.
Summaries of two examples of this project format which were particularly successful were presented.
In the first, students helped develop low-cost pressure sensor tape for Boeing Aircraft (for details see prior Chapter Technical Session by Aaron Scroggin in our Chapter Archives) to be able to analyze with maximum detail the air pressure on airfoil surfaces both in wind tunnels and in actual flight. The main contribution of the Purdue seniors was developing the process by which such tape (a composite of polymer and ceramic material) could be manufactured economically.
The second project involved a processing problem with a pin used in a knee joint replacement by DuPew Co. A serious loss of fatigue life was occurring in the pins with the Co-Cr-Mo alloy being used as originally being produced. Study showed that the cold rolling process, used to reduces the pin material to final size, was actually contributing to the increase of a brittle Hex Close Packed phase in the structure of the material. Two recommendations to eliminate the problem were presented. One (involving substantial capital investment) was to hot-roll the material all the way to pin size. The second was to perform a "precision anneal" (within 30 degrees of grain boundary melting) after final cold rolling was performed. Either solution maintained or restored the required fatigue properties to the material. The supplier opted for the capital investment and now produces the pin by hot-rolling.
Prof. Krane invites interested parties to contact him at:
Krane@ecn.purdue.edu
Maximizing Income from your Retirement SavingsSpeaker - Paul Bhe
Fidelity Investments
The program discussed how to evaluate sources of income, making the most of retirement savings, and types of assistance available for retirement planning.