Sakae Casting tasked this team with conducting product ideation to find a use for their novel unique aluminum precision vacuum casting technologies. The team worked with Sakae to develop a cellular lattice which replaces the traditional hexagonal columns as the core of aluminum honeycomb. The “sandwich” is fabricated with this aluminum core and can be surfaced with a variety of materials depending on the purpose. The primary application of the aluminum lattice core is to be used as a crumple zone within a larger system and is designed to absorb the impulse load from impact forces. By performing multiple destructive and non-destructive tests on Sakae’s, and competitor benchmarks’ samples, Team Prosperity’s test data supports the idea that the lattice core casted by Sakae is superior to that of traditional aluminum honeycomb.
Team Members
Joe Keller
Samuel Anderton
Riley Woodworth
Tim Sansoterra
Department
Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering
Mentor
Aaron Smith, Ph.D.
Harold Ackler, PhD
Lynn Catlin, PE
Steven Howe
Sponsor
Sakae Casting; Mika Fox and Iwasawa Satoshi
