As of Thursday I have completed all required safety training for any individual working in a lab. This blog will be rather short as most of last week was spent preparing for the training.
Prior to receiving the necessary lab safety training, I not able to be a hands-on participant in any of the experimentation being preformed in the lab. Now that I have completed all three required courses (Fire-safety, Hazardous waste management, and General Lab safety) I am able to help Luca, Himai, and Jacob during testing.
Each lab safety course essentially preaches the same overarching idea : Mistakes happen when you are not diligent and acting with a purpose. Which translates to: Have common sense, the machines your working with can kill you so treat it with respect. Once I let that idea sink in, being careful in the lab no longer seemed to be some kind of drag or nuisance, but rather a means to improve your testing experience and the quality of your results.
My next blog post will contain my experiences from interning as well as anything that was done in the lab.
Thanks for reading,
Nick Thompson
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Monday, March 20, 2017
Cutting Nylon Samples with a side of Stress and Strain Analysis
This blog post will pertain to my first day interning post-ASU spring break as well as things to come in the next couple days.
Until I receive my lab safety course on the 16th of March, I am essentially a bi-stander during the whole experimentation portion of the project. During my time at ASU, I have been helping anyone who needs a hand with something as well as furthering my understanding of stress and strain by reading the Mechanics of Materials textbook.
On Wednesday, March 15th, I helped Luca Alfarano cut some nylon samples which will be used for testing in the coming days.
Things have been at a rather slow pace as Dr. Mobasher awaits the arrival of some NASA provided nylon samples, which are of the exact specifications of the parachutes NASA is using.
My next blog post will be about my lab safety course and ways I will be able to contribute to project in the coming weeks.
Thanks for reading,
Nick Thompson
Monday, March 6, 2017
This blog post will talk about my internship experiences on Thursday and Friday of last week at ASU.
Thursday 03/02/2017:
I went to ASU on Thursday to help Luca Alfarano prepare nylon samples he would be testing on Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately, since ASU is on Spring break next week, I will not be able to provide "hands-on" help in the lab and will just be an observer to the experiments.
Dr. Mobasher provided me with several links as a means to become more familiar with the entire project as a whole. The nylon testing that Dr. Mobasher and his team are preforming at ASU is only a portion of the actual NASA LDSD project. LDSD stands for "Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator" and is currently being worked on by scientists and engineers at NASA and JPL.
I will provide the links at the end of this blog post for anyone that is interested in watching the videos.
Friday 03/03/2017:
On Friday I helped Luca prepare more samples of nylon for testing he would be doing later in the day.
The entire process of preparing the samples is incredibly repetitive and meticulous.
Preparing the Nylon Samples:
The first step in the sample preparation is to cut the aluminium sheet into rows with a width of 1.6"
Next, cut the rows into sections that are 2.1" in length. (each section will be used as a grip for the nylon same and each nylon sample uses 4 grips)
Once the aluminium sections are cut, the gage length must be marked on the sample of nylon for proper placement of the aluminium grips. The gage length is the part of the nylon which will be tested.
Next, apply super glue to one side of an aluminium grip and place on the nylon. Two grips will be placed on the bottom of the nylon sample and two will be placed on top of the nylon sample, one directly onto each of bottom grips.
Before testing the sample, paint must be applied in a very tedious process in order for DIC to properly detect deformation in the sample during testing.
ASU is on Spring break next week so my hours will partly spent in the lab and partly spent at BASIS Phoenix. However, I plan to continue my independent reading of my Mechanics of Materials textbook as well as readings for my project.
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Thanks for reading,
-Nick Thompson
Thursday 03/02/2017:
I went to ASU on Thursday to help Luca Alfarano prepare nylon samples he would be testing on Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately, since ASU is on Spring break next week, I will not be able to provide "hands-on" help in the lab and will just be an observer to the experiments.
Dr. Mobasher provided me with several links as a means to become more familiar with the entire project as a whole. The nylon testing that Dr. Mobasher and his team are preforming at ASU is only a portion of the actual NASA LDSD project. LDSD stands for "Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator" and is currently being worked on by scientists and engineers at NASA and JPL.
I will provide the links at the end of this blog post for anyone that is interested in watching the videos.
Friday 03/03/2017:
On Friday I helped Luca prepare more samples of nylon for testing he would be doing later in the day.
The entire process of preparing the samples is incredibly repetitive and meticulous.
Preparing the Nylon Samples:
The first step in the sample preparation is to cut the aluminium sheet into rows with a width of 1.6"
Next, cut the rows into sections that are 2.1" in length. (each section will be used as a grip for the nylon same and each nylon sample uses 4 grips)
Once the aluminium sections are cut, the gage length must be marked on the sample of nylon for proper placement of the aluminium grips. The gage length is the part of the nylon which will be tested.
Next, apply super glue to one side of an aluminium grip and place on the nylon. Two grips will be placed on the bottom of the nylon sample and two will be placed on top of the nylon sample, one directly onto each of bottom grips.
Before testing the sample, paint must be applied in a very tedious process in order for DIC to properly detect deformation in the sample during testing.
ASU is on Spring break next week so my hours will partly spent in the lab and partly spent at BASIS Phoenix. However, I plan to continue my independent reading of my Mechanics of Materials textbook as well as readings for my project.
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Thanks for reading,
-Nick Thompson
Thursday, March 2, 2017
My First Few Days at ASU
I started my internship with Dr. Mobasher at ASU on Tuesday of this week. Dr. Mobasher put me into contact with three of his post-graduate students: Jacob Bauchmoyer, Himai Mehere, and Luca Alfarano. Jacob and Himai are both obtaining their Masters degree from ASU in Civil Engineering and Luca is on a six-month research exchange program from Italy.
Day 1 02/28/17:
After introducing myself to Jacob, Himai, and Luca, I was given a tour of the laboratory which Dr. Mobasher and his team use for experimentation. I was shown the INSTRON machine which uses a constant strain rate to cause a displacement at one end of the nylon sample being used in testing. Displacement of the nylon introduces uniaxial stress into the material and eventually causes deformation in the nylon structure.
Once we returned from the lab, I was also introduced to Digital Image Correlation, or DIC in short. The DIC method takes and uses photographs, which are taken in constant time intervals during the experiment, to digitally analyze and measure deformation of the sample being used until failure.
The tedious process of setting up the DIC cameras and preparing the nylon samples according to the proper guidelines can take several hours, while the actual tests only last for about 20 minutes. Reminds me of playing with dominos...you spend an hour or more setting them up and then watch them fall for the best 10-15 seconds of your life.
Later in the day I was assigned more reading in the Mechanics of Materials textbook by Dr. Mobasher. I read through sections 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3 and took notes on those sections.
Day 2 03/01/17:
I started my day with continuing my reading of Chapter 7, finishing section 7.4 and 7.5.
In order to be in the lab while experimentation is ongoing, I must take three ASU required lab safety courses. Jeff Long, the Laboratory Manager for the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, helped me register for the Hazardous waste management and Fire safety and Prevention courses, which are taught online, and another course about Lab Safety, which is taught in a classroom. The two online courses required me to listen to an audio presentation about each subject and take an exam which required a minimum score of 87% to pass the class. I was able to finish both online courses while at ASU on Wednesday, but I will not be able to take the in-class Lab safety course until March 16th, because of Spring break. Therefore I will not be able to help with any tests until I have completed that course.
My post tomorrow will contain my experience on my third day of interning as well as my plan for next week.
Thanks for reading,
-Nick Thompson
Day 1 02/28/17:
After introducing myself to Jacob, Himai, and Luca, I was given a tour of the laboratory which Dr. Mobasher and his team use for experimentation. I was shown the INSTRON machine which uses a constant strain rate to cause a displacement at one end of the nylon sample being used in testing. Displacement of the nylon introduces uniaxial stress into the material and eventually causes deformation in the nylon structure.
Once we returned from the lab, I was also introduced to Digital Image Correlation, or DIC in short. The DIC method takes and uses photographs, which are taken in constant time intervals during the experiment, to digitally analyze and measure deformation of the sample being used until failure.
The tedious process of setting up the DIC cameras and preparing the nylon samples according to the proper guidelines can take several hours, while the actual tests only last for about 20 minutes. Reminds me of playing with dominos...you spend an hour or more setting them up and then watch them fall for the best 10-15 seconds of your life.
Later in the day I was assigned more reading in the Mechanics of Materials textbook by Dr. Mobasher. I read through sections 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3 and took notes on those sections.
Day 2 03/01/17:
I started my day with continuing my reading of Chapter 7, finishing section 7.4 and 7.5.
In order to be in the lab while experimentation is ongoing, I must take three ASU required lab safety courses. Jeff Long, the Laboratory Manager for the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, helped me register for the Hazardous waste management and Fire safety and Prevention courses, which are taught online, and another course about Lab Safety, which is taught in a classroom. The two online courses required me to listen to an audio presentation about each subject and take an exam which required a minimum score of 87% to pass the class. I was able to finish both online courses while at ASU on Wednesday, but I will not be able to take the in-class Lab safety course until March 16th, because of Spring break. Therefore I will not be able to help with any tests until I have completed that course.
My post tomorrow will contain my experience on my third day of interning as well as my plan for next week.
Thanks for reading,
-Nick Thompson
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