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
Congratulations on starting your internship at ASU, I am looking forward to hearing about what you do there. I just want to note, your breakdown of the complex physics in the first two chapters of the book you're studying is well done and pretty cool. I learned something new. If you have time outside of your internship, I would love to read more about what you have drawn from the textbook.
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