TOP STORY

Composites Manufacturing Short Courses Continue to Earn High Ratings
By Kathy Werrell

“Excellent” is how participants consistently rate the instructors’ willingness to answer questions in both of the hands-on training courses COMP101: Introduction to Composites and COMP201: Introduction to VARTM (vacuum assisted resin transfer molding).  Each 15-hour course is coordinated by UD’s Engineering Outreach Program and taught by CCM research professionals in the Center’s Composites Manufacturing Science Laboratory.  As Mike Slate, Director of Ballistics Engineering for CPC, commented, Intro to Composites (May 31-June 1) provided him with “a lot of good content.”  Meanwhile, Sean Britton, an engineering technician with NASA-Langley Research Center who attended the Intro to VARTM course on June 11 & 12, said he “gained a better understanding for using VARTM as far as designing and laying a part up.”

These non-credit 2-day courses, initially offered for engineers and engineering technicians from the Ridley Park (PA) Boeing site, are unanimously well-received and recommended by participants to their peers.  As a result, each course has been offered twice this spring for open-enrollment groups.  Those groups have included employees from various locations of 3M, Air Products, ATK, BAE Systems, Ceramic Protection Corp, Dassault Falcon Jet Corp, DHS, General Dynamics, Great Lakes Composites Institute, Lockheed Martin, Materials Sciences Corp, NASA Langley Research Center, PolyComp, Rock Island Arsenal, U.S. Army Research Lab, USA TACOM, and the U.S. Department of Energy.  Enrollment in each class is restricted to a maximum of 16 participants, enabling an excellent and truly experiential laboratory that would not be possible with a larger group.

Both courses include some classroom instruction, including time using modeling software in UD’s computer teaching classrooms.  But the bulk of the participants’ time is spent wearing lab coats and safety goggles as they work in CCM’s laboratories, learning the manufacturing techniques through hands-on experience.  Intro to Composites (COMP101) introduces participants to the design of a wide range of composites, manufacturing processes, and testing methodologies.  Then it rotates participants through labs dealing with autoclave processing, some VARTM processing, automated resin transfer molding (RTM), destructive testing, analysis of plates and materials characterization. 

Intro to VARTM introduces participants to liquid composites molding processes, focusing on issues of flow and modeling.  They learn to use the LIMS (Liquid Injection Molding Simulation) software to save time and reduce costs, as this program enables virtual fine-tuning of manufacturing processes to avoid flaws in the final product.  In the manufacturing laboratory, participants learn about materials characterization, including fabric permeability, resin viscosity, and washable stiffener fabrication.  Divided into 3 groups, each group infuses a sandwich structure that they left to cure and the test on Day 2 of the course.  The second day involves learning to do composite part design using CATIA and other adaptive infusion tools and then going into the lab to put VARTM to the test.

According to Kathy Werrell, Assistant Dean and Director of UD’s Engineering Outreach Program, additional composites short courses will be scheduled in the future.  She urges regular checking of http://www.engr.udel.edu/outreach/short-courses/index.html for announcements of these and other short courses facilitated through Outreach.

The Late Professor Arthur B. Metzner

Arthur B. Metzner Commemorative Symposium A Memorable Event The Arthur B. Metzner Symposium was held in Clayton Hall at the University of Delaware on May 14, 2007. The symposium brought together generations of ex-students, former colleagues, friends and family members whose lives had been touched by the late Professor Metzner. The symposium attendees included people who traveled long distances: David Boger from Australia, Jan Mewis from Belgium, Joseph Lieto from France, Rebecca Metzner and R. Jeremy Clark from Italy, David James from Toronto, and Kenneth Chrisman from Alaska. Other attendees included former faculty colleagues such as Morton M. Denn, Eli Ruckenstein, and James Wei. The Metzner family was also present including Betty Metzner (wife of 58 years), Arthur P. Metzner (son), Rebecca Metzner and Elisabeth Faulkner (daughters). Among the former students that were present included the first Metzner undergraduate research advisee, Bob Wynn, who graduated with a BCHE in 1954 and Bob Otto, PhD 1957, who was Art's first PhD student. See Full Story at https://www.che.udel.edu/forms/metzner/

CONSORTIUM

CCM would like to thank our many consortium members for continuing to participate in consortium activities. Click here to learn more about the benefits of becoming a member www.ccm.udel.edu/Consortium/benefits.html

PUBLICATIONS

Conference Proceedings

Helgeson, M. E., K. N. Grammatikos, J. M. Dietzel, and N. J. Wagner, “Kinematic Studies of Polymer Electrospinning using In Situ Measurements,” Proceedings of the 52nd International SAMPE Symposium and Exhibition, June 3-7, 2007, Baltimore, Maryland.

Houghton, J., J. M., B. A. Schiffman, D. P. Kalman, E. D. Wetzel, and N. J. Wagner, “Hypodermic Needle Puncture of Shear Thickening Fluid (STF)-Treated Fabrics,” Proceedings of the 52nd International SAMPE Symposium and Exhibition, June 3-7, 2007, Baltimore, Maryland.

Kalman, D. P., J. B. Schein, J. M. Houghton, C. H. N. Laufer, E. D. Wetzel and N. J. Wagner, “Polymer Dispersion Based Shear Thickening Fluid-Fabrics for Protective Applications,” Proceedings of the 52nd International SAMPE Symposium and Exhibition, June 3-7, 2007, Baltimore, Maryland..

Rosen, B. A., C. H. Nam Laufer, D. P. Kalman, E. D. Wetzel, and N. J. Wagner, “Multi-Threat Performance of Kaolin-Based Shear Thickening Fluid (STF)-Treated Fabrics,” Proceedings of the 52nd International SAMPE Symposium and Exhibition, June 3-7, 2007, Baltimore, Maryland.

Thostenson, E. T., V. Gendlin and T-W. Chou, "Carbon Nanotube Composites for Self-Sensing of Deformation and Damage," Proceedings of the 52nd International SAMPE Symposium and Exhibition, June 3-7, 2007, Baltimore, Maryland.

Journals

Abu Obaid, A, Gokce, A.,; Yarlagadda, S., and Advani, S. G., "Enhancement of Adhesion Between Copper and Vinyl Ester in Glass Fiber-Vinyl Ester Composites," Composite Interfaces, 14,  pp. 99-116, 2007.

Bonnaillie, L. M., and R. P. Wool, "Thermosetting Foam with a High Bio-based Content from Acrylated Epoxidized Soybean Oil and Carbon Dioxide", Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 105 (3), pp.1042-1052, 2007.

Hong, C-E., Lee, K-H., Kalappa, P., and S. G. Advani, "Effects of Oxidative Conditions on Properties of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes in Polymer Nanocomposites, Composites Science and Technology, 67, pp. 1027-1034, 2007.

Neacsu, V., J. Leisen, H. W. Beckham and S. G. Advani, "Use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Visualize Impregnation Across Aligned Cylinders due to Capillary Forces," Experiments in Fluids, 42, (3) 2007.

Su, D., M. H. Santare, G. H. Gazonas, “The Effect of Crack Face Contact on the Anisotropic Effective Moduli of Microcrack Damaged Media,” Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 74 (9), pp. 1436-55, 2007.

Tang, W. and S. G. Advani , "Nonequilibrium Molecular Dynamics Simulation to Describe the Rotation of Rigid, Low Aspect Ratio Carbon Nanotubes in Simple Shear Flow,"   Journal of Chemical Physics, 126, 144711, 2007.

Home | News | Current Newsletter | Newsletter Archives l Events Calendar