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RET 2002Composites in Construction: A Research Experience for Teachers| The State's Article on RET 2002 | Research Links | RET Home | |
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RET 2002Composites in Construction: A Research Experience for Teachers| The State's Article on RET 2002 | Research Links | RET Home | |
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The Teachers
Five teachers conducted research on the USC-Columbia
campus during the summer of 2002 through the RET program.
In addition to improving the teachers’
abilities to design and conduct experiments and to conduct research, this
project enabled the participants to develop one or more laboratory modules that
were derived from their research and that can easily be taken back and used in
their classroom.
Teacher
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Current School |
Undergraduate
Degree |
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Michael L. Allen |
Battery Creek High School,
Beaufort SC |
Wood Science and Technology |
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Randolf
M. Brookes |
Dreher
High School, Columbia SC |
Mathematics |
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H. Al Gates |
Dutch Fork High School,
Irmo SC |
Biology |
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Laura M.
Lanni |
Dutch Fork High School,
Irmo SC |
Chemical Engineering |
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Alvin D. Pressley |
Keenan High School, Columbia, SC |
Chemistry |
The Research
A major objective of our research was to determine what factors affect the strength of the bond between glass-epoxy composites and wood.
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We used two kinds of epoxy, two rolls of glass fiber, a primer, and a whole lot of southern yellow pine. The pine was dry, wet, rough or smooth. |
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We rounded the edges of the boards with a router before we applied the epoxy-glass composite. |
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To get ready to make the materials, we measured and cut the glass, then mixed the epoxy resin and hardener together. |
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We primed the boards and impregnated the glass fiber with the epoxy. |
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Wrapping the uncured composite around the wood made a mess. We were very careful to keep the fibers straight. |
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It took at least 24 hours for the epoxy to cure. We reinforced long beams and also made short test coupons. |
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The long beams reinforced with composites were a lot stronger than those that weren’t. |
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Our smaller samples were tested as-fabricated or after water immersion (a concrete block kept them submerged)., warm air drying (in an oven), or cyclic wet-dry exposure (at the mid-tide mark of the Atlantic Ocean). |
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We used this instrument to measure the strength of the bond between the composite and the wood. It’s called an adhesion tester. |
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Sometimes the bond didn’t fail, sometimes it did. |
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We figured out why! |
| © 2002 University of South Carolina Board of Trustees. The opinions expressed here are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of South Carolina. Updated July 10, 2002 by Lyons@sc.edu. |
