Spelman College ARL Student Design Project 2019
Abstract
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The goal of the challenge accepted by the Spelman College ARL Design Competition Team is to replace as many parts as possible on a given unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) using cellulose produced by the bacteria Gluconacetobacter hansenii. Completion of this work will introduce HBCU/MI students to Army research and technical challenges and increase student interest in Army science and engineering as well as engage HBCU/MI students with the ArmyÕs technical and operational communities and stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship.Ê The Spelman ARL Team will be composed of eight undergraduates: three art majors, three biology majors, one chemistry major and one computer science major. We will use a parallel approach in which students will be organized in three groups and simultaneously work on 1) generating BC from liquid cultures and 2) developing techniques for molding bacterial cellulose (BC) pelliciles (using the provided material) and 3) generating plastic molds for parts of the UAV that will be replaced by BC. We will use ex-situ composite synthesis techniques in attempts to strengthen the BC for our design. We will use generate two natural BC-composites, a BC-chitosan composite, and a BC- montmorillonite composite. Chitosan is a sugar that is obtained from the hard outer skeleton of shellfish. Montmorillonite is a clay mineral. Both BC-chitosan and BC- montmorillonite composites have been shown to have tensile strengths greater than BC alone15,16, however they are quite different from each other, thus may provide different structural properties for our design. Completion of the aforementioned goal is best aligned with the Materials by Design ProgramÕs (MDP) emphasis on Directed 3D Assembly of Materials, a subsidiary of the Engineering Sciences, Material Sciences Division. The Directed 3D Assembly of Materials supports the 3D assembly of reconfigurable materials and the development of viable approaches for the design and synthesis of multi-component materials. The abstract is available for public release
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2019
- Source ID
- W911NF1910195
Entities
People
- Tiffany Oliver
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Spelman College
- United States Army