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Ashby Materials Design Award

This annual contest, judged by Professor Mike Ashby, challenges engineering students to apply CES EduPack to a materials selection problem in an innovative and interesting way.

2006 Winner

Mike Ashby writes:

This year’s Materials Selection problem was the most challenging to date. It stimulated an excellent response: 30 submissions from a number of countries. The Award this year goes, by a narrow margin, to Eduardo Avancini Alves of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sol, Brazil, for his innovative exploration of tubular structures in nature as a source of inspiration and for his competent analysis and use of CES software to devise a steel-mesh reinforced polyurethane composite tube that meets the design requirements.

Congratulations to Eduardo and to Professor Wilson Kindlein Jr. who guided the project.

Read the press release announcing the winner...

The problem

This was the problem set for the 2006 contest:

Imagine yourself to be a Materials Consultant. You receive the following request for help in choosing a material. (Note that this request is one that was actually made of a consultant and it is typical of real-life situations.)

“I want to find out if there are any materials that have a very low thermal conductivity and, at the same time, are pretty strong (able to withstand 15,000 psi of pressure). The application involves hot liquid flowing through a tube – the idea is to minimize the amount of heat lost. It is a medical application.”

There are many unanswered questions here – the size of the tube, does it have to be flexible or rigid, the nature of the fluid (all fluids are corrosive to something), the expected life, the acceptable cost and much more. That’s the way these things are – you can ask these questions later, or try to anticipate them. But to get a rational discussion going, you need to generate some answers to the initial inquiry.

The challenge

Use CES, first at Level 2, then at Level 3 if you have it, to find possible candidates. Try anticipating a bit. That’s where your Sherlock Holmes talents come in: suppose the answer to one or more of those questions was “yes” and see – using CES – what difference that might make. And think also a bit about the possibilities of combining two materials rather than using just one.

HINT: If you don’t usually work in US Units you can change the UNITS in CES from Metric to Imperial ?? and the currency to whatever you want by clicking on Tools / Options / Units in the uppermost task bar.

The prize

The winning student receives a personal copy of CES EduPack 2006, valid for one year, plus a £100 (US$ 150 or €150) Amazon gift certificate and a signed certificate from world-renowned materials expert Mike Ashby of Cambridge University, who will also judge the competition.

Rules of entry

Entry is restricted to Undergraduate Students from any University, Country, Course or Year.
Students may enter only as individuals – team entries are not permitted.
Only one entry per student is permitted.
All entries must be typed.
Answers should be submitted with the student’s choice of ‘Selected Material/Materials’ at the top of their answer sheet followed by their reasoning.
Answers should contain student’s name, University or College, Department, course and year, address for correspondence and e-mail address.
Any other design considerations should also be displayed in your answer (Process Selection, Design Geometry, Aesthetics, Environmental Considerations).
Closing date for entry: May 31 2006.
The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.