Use of cambridge engineering selector in a materials/manufacturing course

Abstract

During the 1998-1999 academic year, Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University decided to combine a materials course that included a laboratory and a manufacturing course that contained a laboratory. As part of this activity, we decided to increase the design activity and material selection within the new course. Starting in fall 2002, we made a copy of a materials selection program, CES-4™ (Granta Design Limited) available to each student taking the course. A number of activities were devised to help the students become familiar with the program. The culminating activity was for each laboratory group to design a children's playground. They were to select the materials and the manufacturing processes for a playground that could handle 20 to 40 children from the ages of 2 or 3 to about 12 to 13 years old at one time. The Parks and Recreation Departments of both communities wanted the equipment to last 20 to 25 years with minimum maintenance. The application of the CES-4™ program to the design will be discussed and examples will be shown.