Week12 report

It has been three months since I came here. Still have two more months to go. As the time goes by, my attachment is getting more and more interesting. It snowed this week. Everything was coated with white color. I witnessed the first snow in Bochum. Here are some photos I took on my way to school. Beautiful~

I went to a party with friends from the solar car team this week. It was organized by students from department of Medicine in Ruhr University. It was a nice party. I won few bottles of beer from my friends. Got free beer to drink…(Of cause happy.hah…)

We have a workshop in school last weekend. It was conducted by a professional trainer from outside company. It is designed for all the new members to learn how to work with carbon fiber and glass fiber from some hands-on practices. It is more like a chemistry lesson for me. Although it was conducted in German, but thanks to Arne who help me translate. And help me get a guide book in English from the company. It is like a “Bible” for fiber.hah… In this post, I will only show some basic steps involves in making a glass fiber mold. Description that is more detailed will be shown in my final report.

Here is our trainer. He is very tall by the way.haha… He was teaching us how to mix the chemicals. The chemicals we use are quite danger. The amounts of two different chemicals need to be calculated in advance. In case of these two chemicals “cooking” when mix them together. (Strong reaction, it will look like boiling, so they call it “cooking”.) A standard way of mixing these chemicals needs to be followed.

Our objective is to build a negative mold base on a positive mold of a car door (as you can see in the photo) using glass fiber. Then Use this negative mold, we will make a positive mold with carbon fiber.(it will be anther workshop next week.) He was applying some chemical to increase the quality of the surface.

Cutting of glass fiber. We were using a special type of scissor to cut the fiber. It is extremely sharp which made for cutting the fiber; applied chemicals on the glass fiber. In order for the chemical to penetrate into fiber, we need to press the paint roller hard. At the same time, by doing this we can then tighten the fiber structure.

Holes on the mold need to be filled with short fibers. Then it is ready for lamination. Layers of Glass fiber were then placed on the mold in sequences.

Rolling on the surface, then added a wood structure on top of it at last. So that’s all. (Sounds simple right? But it took us one day to do it.)

We also built some small parts for testing. To compare the difference between carbon fiber and glass fiber; and how the thickness of a form can change the strength of the part. And finally how to use vacuum technique to suck out excess chemical.

I also try them out myself. Build two part using carbon fiber and glass fiber. I will bring them back to Singapore.hah… (Just evidences for showing to the school. And kind of souvenir as well.) haha…

Have a nice weekend…I have a second workshop tomorrow. See you.
(Left: Arne was repairing his bike. Right: Martin gets drunk in the party.) hah…