Dumbbell Corrosion and Stress Analysis - SOLDIWORKS
ME 230 Material Science Project
RESEARCH & FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
Simulating Environmental Conditions
To ensure our solution was viable, several FEA tests were conducted based off the average temperature in a gym, the maximum amount of weight expected on this barbell and the load conditions when in use and stationary. As seen on the right there was little to no movement, so it was deemed a safe alternative.
THE GOAL
R&D of commercial gym dumbbells to create a dumbbell that minimizes corrosion
Understanding material properties and selecting the right metal or compound is a crucial step in the design process. Our task for this project was to select an object that corrodes, identify the issue with it corroding, understand why this happens and develop a solution or alternative to minimize this corrosion.
Dumbbells are very susceptible to corrosion with the humid environment and abundance of sweat present. To solve this we designed a plastic, mold-injected holder for the dumbbells to reduce the sweat-to-metal contact, ultimately slowing down any corrosion.
THE SOLUTION AND CONCLUSION
Environmentally friendly plastic handle
A plastic, mold-injected handle was selected as the solution as it prevents the issue of penetration and crevice corrosion, and reduced the amount of steel being machined to be more environmentally friendly. Also, the plastic selected can be made from recycled plastic reducing carbon footprint of the manufacturing altogether. This solution meets both the functional and constraint requirements and was successfully presented.
Cantilever Mechanical Analysis - SOLIDWORKS
ME 115 Material Science Lab
THE GOAL
Understanding material properties using FEA
By creating a fixed end and applying a force on the opposite end, the behavior can be recorded to find a trend or calculate some of the material properties of the material.
Different materials were used to learn how the Young's modulus and shear modulus impact the amount of displacement.
THE END RESULT AND CONCLUSION
Formal lab report and conclusion
All displacement values were recorded and graphed in a chart using Excel. The report included various test parameters that were used to ensure all information was written clearly.
Ultimately, the beams that displaced the least were determined to have the highest Modulus of Elasticity and was backed up by additional research.
