Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement (ILI)

这是一个项目，它是在材料科学与工程的基础实验室教所有工程专业的学生的方法进行根本性的转变。主要目标是来自航空航天，民用，工业和机械工程的二年级学生，每年约500人。此外，每年约有50名材料科学与工程专业和/或未成年学生受到影响。所有这些学生都有一个共同点，即强烈需要了解固体的力学性质。这个想法是为了传授用于日常产品工程设计的复杂和抽象数据的实际意义。在过去，大多数实验主要局限于观察和数据收集。这个问题是克服使用多个站，每个站有一个小的学生团队，并采用计算机接口到复杂的实验设备。实验将实际应用（例如现实环境中紧固件或焊接的强度）与从标准测试和样本（例如来自拉伸或冲击机器）获得的数据的限制联系起来。使用多个成像和收集系统的显微结构数据在每种情况下都与机械性能相关。

This is a project which is making a radical shift in the methods by which basic laboratories in Materials Science and Engineering are taught to all engineering students. The primary targets are second year students from: Aerospace, Civil, Industrial, and Mechanical Engineering, numbering about 500 per year. In addition, about 50 students per year with majors and/or minors in Materials Science and Engineering are being affected. All these students have in common a strong need to understand the mechanical properties of solids. The idea is to impart the practical meaning of complex and abstract data used for the engineering design of every day products. In the past, most experiments were confined primarily to observation and data gathering. This problem is overcome using multiple stations, each with a small student team and employing a computer interfaced to sophisticated experimental apparatus. Experiments are relating practical applications (e.g. the strength of fasteners or welds in realistic environments) to the limits of data obtained from standard tests and specimens (e.g. from tensile or impact machines). Microstructural data using multiple imaging and collection systems is being correlated to mechanical properties in every instance.