A Laboratory Experience in Polymers Engineering

该项目的重点是购置设备、计算机和软件，以便为材料工程系的本科生提供丰富的聚合物工程实验室经验。这一重点是通过为学生提供“完整”的工程经验来实现的。他们运用基础知识并将其应用于创造性的设计序列，以解决聚合物工程中的实际问题。该课程的具体目标是向学生介绍行业中用于设计和优化注塑模具和注塑加工参数的最先进的软件；为学生提供注塑成型的操作和原理的机会；并让学生有机会将他们的预测从软件与实际零件制造进行比较。为了达到这些目标，可以修改当前提供的课程的内容。为了提高教学效果，缓解目前存在的问题，该项目开发了实验室模块，重点是使用最先进的软件包C-MOLD，用于预测塑料零件制造过程中的流动时间、压力、温度、翘曲和收缩以及结晶度；在带压力计和热电偶的全仪表模具上对模型预测进行了实验验证；并进行了模具的设计和加工条件的优化，以生产出学生选择和设计的零件。学生们要做一个口头报告，要求他们说服经理，该部件是可以生产的，是对现有技术的改进，具有成本效益，并且有市场。他们还制作销售中使用的技术/营销手册。

The emphasis of this project is the acquisition of equipment, computers, and software in order to provide undergraduate students in the Department of Materials Engineering with a strong laboratory experience in polymers engineering. This focus is accomplished by providing the students with a "complete" engineering experience. They use fundamental knowledge and apply it to a creative design sequence in order to solve a practical problem in polymer engineering. Specific goals of the effort are to introduce the students to state-of-the-art software used in the industry for design and optimization of injection molding molds and to injection molding processing parameters; to provide the students opportunities in the operation and principles of injection molding; and to allow the students the opportunity to compare their predictions from the software to real part fabrication. To achieve these goals, the contents of a currently offered course can be revised. In order to improve the teaching effectiveness and alleviate the current problems, the project develops laboratory modules focusing on the use of C-MOLD, a state-of-the-art software package, for the prediction of flow times, pressure, temperature, warpage and shrinkage, and degree of crystallinity during fabrication of plastic parts; the experimental validation of the modeling predictions on a fully instrumented mold with pressure gages and thermocouples; and the design of a mold and the optimization of processing conditions to produce a part that the students select and design. Students give an oral presentation in which they are required to convince a manager that the part is possible to produce, an improvement over current technology, cost effective, and marketable. They also produce the technical/marketing brochure that would be used in sales.