Materials Design Project

Aerospace Materials

Aug. 2021 - Dec. 2021

Technical Skills: Research, GrantaEduPack

Objective: Determine the best material to use for an aerospace object and the best method for processing

About:

The course-long project for Aerospace Materials was the design project for which groups of students decided on an aerospace-related object, researched materials and processes, and reported - from the conceptual to detail phases - on which material should be used to build this object. My group's object was the outer shell of a module on the International Space Station (ISS). The group used GrantaEduPack as a resource for material and process information and created a report on our findings.

Lessons Learned:

Selecting a material can be a difficult task especially when large budgets are involved. The amount of choices we had paired with the specific and unmoving needs of the object made for a long decision making process. I worked with teammates who had differing opinions and had constructive conversations about our focuses and next steps. Working on an object that must survive in space presented new challenges that were exciting but also required more research, which allowed me to improve my research skills and gain valuable information to build my base of spacecraft knowledge.

The above image is a slide directly from my group's Design Project report. The image of the ISS module came from https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Columbus_(ISS_module).

Contributions:

As the group worked through the phases of material selection and design, we narrowed our material options. After the concept phase, entering the embodiment phase, we had three material options. I compared the processability of the 3 potential materials. I had researched the conditions which must be met by the object (and its material) and compared the needs of the object to the abilities of the materials. In doing this, I helped our group to decide on our final material. I was also responsible for a large portion of the formatting and aesthetic building of our report (as it was in the format of a powerpoint).