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Auburn Engineers team up with Vectorply for HERC Challenge

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Every year engineering students worldwide compete in the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) to design and engineer human-powered rovers. Teams endure a series of challenges from obstacle courses and missions to judges scoring based on design and functionality. The goal of this project is to further interest in scientific exploration and for students to better understand the task requirements of roving vehicles on the moon.

For the past semester, several senior students from Auburn University’s engineering school visited Vectorply to work on their rover’s wheels. With speed and weight key deciding factors in the race, Auburn HERC team members were tasked with creating new non-pneumatic wheels for their rover. Throughout this process, they partnered with our engineering team to learn the value of mold-prep and fabricated laminates via open molding and infusion.

Composites Engineer Xavier Rachel, an Auburn University Mechanical Engineering Graduate (Class of 2020) led the team throughout this project. Over the course of four months, Xavier demonstrated and oversaw various processes of vacuum infusion and open molding, answering their questions and meeting with them after hours to ensure that everything ran smoothly. “Working with students from my alma mater was an exciting experience and this project was a fun challenge,” Xavier said. “Getting to share the benefits and versatility of our materials to the next generation of graduates was very special.”

The wheels were designed with layers of our C-LT 1800 carbon fabric and filled with polyurethane foam, while the hubs were attached using J-B Weld. Team member Ashley Eng noted, “Our wheels were the most reliable part of the rover and had no issues at all. They held up extremely well for both our runs on the obstacle course and are still in great condition.”

The competition took place April 19th-20th in Huntsville, Alabama where out of the 62 teams participating, Auburn’s HERC placed 13th in the college sector.

To learn more about the HERC project and its origin, click here: About Human Exploration Rover Challenge – NASA

 

 

 

 

 

CompositesWorld Digital Demo Highlights Vectorply Reinforcements & Technical Services

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Phenix City, AL – Vectorply Corporation is an engineering-driven company with a strong focus on helping customers drive innovative ideas from concept to creation. A recent Digital Demo published by CompositesWorld highlights the unique combination of custom reinforcement fabrics and expert technical service that gives customers the ability to meet ambitious goals with confidence in their laminate and production process.

Vectorply Vice President of Composite Engineering Trevor Gundberg explains the wide variety of fabric combinations that are engineered by fiber choice, ply architecture, and added veils, backings, and cores. In addition, Vectorply’s suite of technical services including on-site technical audits, VectorLam laminate analysis and design, and in-house testing capabilities are described in detail. This combination of products and services allows customers to gain a competitive advantage in their market by creating higher quality products that are validated for performance and production efficiency before fabrication begins.

To view the Digital Demo, visit the link below:

Optimized fiber reinforcements, fabrics, NCFs

Vectorply to demonstrate at “Road2Composites: Scaling Up Innovation” automotive workshop

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Phenix City, Ala. – On April 17-18, Vectorply Corporation will participate in the “Road2Composites: Scaling Up Innovation” automotive and transportation workshop at the IACMI Scale-up Research Facility (SURF) in Detroit Michigan. “Road2Composites: Scaling Up Innovation” is an automotive and transportation workshop hosted by Composites One, the Closed Mold Alliance, and Magnum Venus Products (MVP), in partnership
with IACMI-the Composites Institute. Live demonstrations will focus on scale-up, light-weighting, and high-volume composites products and processes.

Vectorply Field Engineer Mike Ditzler will present in the Carbon/Epoxy Light Resin Transfer Molding (LRTM) Demonstration on Tuesday, April 17th at 1:15 p.m. The demo will show the steps of LRTM, including reinforcement
loading, drawing vacuum, leak checking the mold, injecting resin, and proper de-mold in a heated LRTM tool. Ditzler will discuss reinforcements in detail, including VectorUltra carbon fabrics C-BX 0600, C-LTi 1105, and C-WVs 0600 that will be used in the demo.

The IACMI Scale-up Research Facility (SURF) is located at 1400 Rosa Parks Blvd., Detroit, MI 48216. This is a free event, and you can register at the following link:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/road2composites-scaling-up-innovation-tickets-42645018398