A Comprehensive Term Project for Materials Science Course

Hui Shen; Vishal R. Mehta

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Conference: 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Publication Date: June 24, 2017
Start Date: June 24, 2017
End Date: June 28, 2017
Conference Session: Materials Division Technical Session 3
Tagged Division: Materials
Page Count: 22
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--27456
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/27456
Download Count: 4581

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B.S. Metallurgical Engineering, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India, 1995
M.S. Materials Science and Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, 2002
Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, 2010
1995-1996: Quality Assurance Engineer, Keystone Valves (I) Pvt. Ltd., Vadodara, India. Lead engineer of assembly, functional testing, third party inspection and certification of safety relief valves.
1997-2000: Process Engineer, Hindalco Industries, Dahej, India. Shift in-charge of daily smelter operations at primary Copper plant.
2000-2010: Research Assistant, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Newark, NJ, USA. Fabricated and characterized High k dielectrics in semiconductors.
2004-2006: Graduate Teaching Assistant, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Newark, NJ, USA. Taught applied physics lab to first year and second year students.
2010- 2013: Postdoctoral Fellow National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden Colorado, USA. Fabricated and characterized Photovoltaic/Solar cells and mentored graduate students.
2014-2016 (spring): Assistant Professor-College of Engineering and Technology, Northern New Mexico College (NNMC), Espanola, NM, USA. Taught courses in Basic math for engineering applications, Intro to math for engineering applications, General engineering design, Applied Metallurgy, Photovoltaic Devices, Mechanics of Materials, Solar Thermal Applications, Electric Energy Storage Devices, Materials and Devices and Capstone
2016 (Fall): Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Ohio Northern University, taught statics, engineering materials science and renewable energy courses.
Activities: Sophomore academic advisor.

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Abstract

A Comprehensive Term Project for Materials Science Course

Abstract

At the author’s institution, Materials Science is a required course for freshmen in Mechanical Engineering and an elective for other engineering majors. The course is the first engineering course for the most engineering students in the college and therefore it is challenging to explain some concepts and discuss the application of the course materials in their future study and career. It is well known that project based learning activities motivates the students to learn new concepts faster. These activities help students understand the application of the theory in real world. To help students engage in the class, a comprehensive term-long project was developed, which combines material testing, simple design for engineering applications, material selection for the design, and testing of the failure of the designed structure. In this project, students were required to select materials for the major components of an aircraft used for the SAE Aero Design Competition. Students selected materials with certain dimensions for five major components of the airframe, including rib, body spar, engine mount, payload box, and wing spar. Each component has different loading conditions and design requirements. The project includes three steps: 1) Material selection based on mechanics calculation of the material properties from online database to satisfy design constraints. Then design criteria using decision matrix were used to pick the best option. 2) Testing of the mechanical properties of selected materials. The material selections were verified and modified based on the test results. 3) The final design was tested and the results were presented in class. From this project-based learning experience, students not only learned the theory, but also gained hands-on experiences. This project changed the passive learning style of the material tests and calculation to active learning style. Students had more questions than just following instructions, as they had to think about how to do the experiments and solve the problem by themselves. Students designed their own structure based on the properties measured in the lab. While the project was a group work with a group of three students, all students contributed to the work based on their own strength. Within each group, leadership roles were rotated among group members for different task. A few assessments were implemented including small assignments such as lab reports and design calculations, written reports, presentations, peer evaluation on teamwork, and a survey. Student feedback indicates that overall students enjoy the experience and believe it should be continued in the future.

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Shen, H., & Mehta, V. R. (2017, June), A Comprehensive Term Project for Materials Science Course Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--27456

TY - CPAPER
AB - A Comprehensive Term Project for Materials Science Course

Abstract

At the author’s institution, Materials Science is a required course for freshmen in Mechanical Engineering and an elective for other engineering majors. The course is the first engineering course for the most engineering students in the college and therefore it is challenging to explain some concepts and discuss the application of the course materials in their future study and career. It is well known that project based learning activities motivates the students to learn new concepts faster. These activities help students understand the application of the theory in real world. To help students engage in the class, a comprehensive term-long project was developed, which combines material testing, simple design for engineering applications, material selection for the design, and testing of the failure of the designed structure. In this project, students were required to select materials for the major components of an aircraft used for the SAE Aero Design Competition. Students selected materials with certain dimensions for five major components of the airframe, including rib, body spar, engine mount, payload box, and wing spar. Each component has different loading conditions and design requirements. The project includes three steps: 1) Material selection based on mechanics calculation of the material properties from online database to satisfy design constraints. Then design criteria using decision matrix were used to pick the best option. 2) Testing of the mechanical properties of selected materials. The material selections were verified and modified based on the test results. 3) The final design was tested and the results were presented in class. From this project-based learning experience, students not only learned the theory, but also gained hands-on experiences. This project changed the passive learning style of the material tests and calculation to active learning style. Students had more questions than just following instructions, as they had to think about how to do the experiments and solve the problem by themselves. Students designed their own structure based on the properties measured in the lab. While the project was a group work with a group of three students, all students contributed to the work based on their own strength. Within each group, leadership roles were rotated among group members for different task. A few assessments were implemented including small assignments such as lab reports and design calculations, written reports, presentations, peer evaluation on teamwork, and a survey. Student feedback indicates that overall students enjoy the experience and believe it should be continued in the future.

AU - Hui Shen
AU - Vishal R. Mehta
CY - Columbus, Ohio
DA - 2017/06/24
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - A Comprehensive Term Project for Materials Science Course
UR - https://peer.asee.org/27456
DO - 10.18260/1-2--27456
ER -

A Comprehensive Term Project for Materials Science Course

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Hui Shen Ohio Northern University

Vishal R. Mehta Ohio Northern University orcid.org/0000-0001-9440-8979

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