Oct. 19, 2009
The research of two University of Wisconsin-Stout students is helping NASA develop energy-efficient and environmentally friendly subsonic gas turbine engines.
Undergraduate students Casandra Baer, an engineering technology major, and Bryan Coddington, a manufacturing engineering major, conducted research at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland this summer as part of a competitive 10-week internship program.
The students researched joining ceramics to metals to be used at high temperatures and explored creative approaches to lessen residual stresses in joints. While helping NASA tackle the manufacturing problem, the students used chemistry, materials science and engineering they learned in their college courses.
After creating brazed joints under controlled conditions, Baer and Coddington examined the joints for integrity using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy and Knoop microhardness testing — a test for mechanical hardness used particularly for very brittle materials. Their data can be used to determine the best fuel tube material and brazing alloy for fuel injector use in the next generation of efficient gas turbines.
As a result, Coddington is the lead author of a paper accepted for presentation at the 34th International Conference & Exposition on Advanced Ceramics & Composites. He will present the paper at the conference, to be held at Daytona Beach in January 2010. Baer’s research was in a report for the Subsonic Rotary Wing Project. Both students are planning to submit papers based on their research to UW-Stout’s Journal of Student Research.
“Several students on campus are now interested to seek this summer opportunity with NASA, and NASA is constantly looking for bright young people to replace its graying workforce,” said Rajiv Asthana, professor of engineering and technology. “Hopefully, we shall have many more students follow Bryan and Casandra’s example next year.”
For more information, contact Asthana at asthanar@uwstout.edu or 715-232-2152. The students may be contacted at baerc@my.uwstout.edu and coddingtonb@my.uwstout.edu.
