The Senior Design class in MSE is a 2-semester sequence. In the Fall semester, student teams learn about their project topics and develop a proposal that identifies project goals, objectives, and describes expected approaches to the solution. In the Spring, the teams work toward achieving their goals and, hopefully, successfully overcoming the many challenges associated with each project.
Thin Film Deposition on a Silicon Substrate; In-Silico Modeling
Goal: Utilize computational modeling to find the correlation between molecular dynamics simulations, and experimentally grown thin films, for device optimization.
Proposal Presentation Video (fall 2022)
Student Team: Owen Bellevage, Rosalba Huerta, Weiling Xia
Industry Mentor: Dr. Valentine Novosad, Senior Materials Scientist, Argonne National Laboratory
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ben Church, Associate Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Passivation of a Pyrophoric Metal Powder
Goal: Design a process that allows for safe, controlled passivation of pyrophoric aluminum metal powder by forming an outer layer of aluminum oxide.
Proposal Presentation Video (fall 2022)
Student Team: Chloe Hotze, Luis-Agustin Moctezuma, Katelyn Sprandel
Industry Mentor: Dr. Ben Schultz, Manager, Alloys and Composites, MATSYS, Inc.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ben Church, Associate Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Feasibility of ImageJ for Analysis of Spheriodized Steel Microstructures
Goal: Create a process, using digital image analysis, that accurately describes characteristics of cementite morphology in pearlite and spheroidite.
Proposal Presentation Video (fall 2022)
Student Team: Thomas Brefka, Quintin Faretra-Gundlach
Industry Mentor: Ted Fitzpatrick, Process Metallurgist, Charter Steel
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ben Church, Associate Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Diffusional Bonding of a Metal Matrix Composite
Goal: Design a test method to measure the mechanical bond strength between a metal-matrix composite (MMC) and aluminum for an insert casting process.
Proposal Presentation Video (fall 2022)
Student Team: Pong Lee, Gavin Schmer, James Veltri, Steven Wenninger
Industry Mentor: David Weiss, VP Research and Development, Eck Industries
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ben Church, Associate Professor, Materials Science and Engineering