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indent Achievements > 2002 Nuggets

State/Industry University Cooperative Research Center for Low-Cost, High-Speed Polymer Composites Processing

Martin C. Hawley, Michigan State University, EEC-9108846

With the need to conserve crude oil and other fossil fuels stocks, manufacturers of transportation vehicles for civilian and military applications need to reduce the weight of the materials used to manufacture the vehicles. Besides being lighter, composite materials can provide greater tensile strength, corrosion and wear resistance, durability, malleability and manufacturability than can metals. While composites offer great potential improvements for vehicular fabrication, there is a strong need for personnel who have state-of-the-art knowledge of composites processing. To address this need, the Michigan State I/UCRC for Composite Materials and Structures (EEC-9108846) has collaborated with the University of Delaware (UD) and the US Department of Defense to create training and education resources in composites processing, consisting of accessible tutorials, decision support tools, and videotaped training modules on liquid and injection molding. Project results include new teaching laboratories, workshops, industrial videos, eleven new or modified undergraduate and graduate-level engineering courses (between MSU and UD), and knowledge-based systems software used for training. In addition, several highly effective interactive Web-based simulations and tutorials were developed, providing a cost-effective means of disseminating composites processing knowledge to all Web-connected industrial practitioners and students.

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