For my senior project I will be testing the possible benefits in mechanical properties gained by laminating polyurethane foam samples with a pre-impregnated material, and compareing these results with samples of the same foam laminated with conventional polyester resin and 4 oz. cloth. As of now I will conduct three tests: Flex-displacement until breakage Impact-dropping a metal ballbearing down a PVC pipe from different heights, I will be able to measure the force that first causes fracture. Brealing point- conducted on the compression tester measuring what force the samples will fail under. My question to anyone knoledgeable on the subject is how big should the samples be, will I want to round the edges and lap my lams, and are there other tests that could better shine light on how a surfboard would perform and withstand abuse? Greg if you read this and could direct to some of the testing and results that you do with the epoxy that would be interesting and helpfull. Thanks, Maysun
Does everyone do this for their senior project? Seems like it.
I dont think it is everyone, that was me refering to the topic a month or so back when I first got the idea. Reguardless, I was thinking I could get a little more helpfull information than the possibility that more than one person could possibly be interested in the same subject. Maysun
You are going to have to do some research…ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) has got rules and regulations for testing everything from snow to nails. One of their many manuals will certainly have some info for you. You may have to go to a technical book store to read them as I doubt anything other than a College or University library will have them. Or ask a consulting engineer if they have one (they better!) that you could look through. The sample size for compressive, shear, and bending strength analysis is very critical and is also dependent upon the method you are using to stress the sample. There are simple mathamatical/physics relations that have to be held to so that you are measuring the strength of the material not the sample. Ask your advisor to help you figure out what those relationships are. Lastly, review your work carefully before you publish (and posting here is a little like publishing). Nothing like a few spelling errors to subtract from an otherwise good proposal…Good Luck!