| Abstract Scope |
The Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT recently launched a course titled "Additive Manufacturing for Aerospace Engineers" in response to demands from MIT AeroAstro undergraduates for more hands-on coursework and workforce development needs among aerospace companies, which struggle to hire recent graduates skilled in fundamental concepts as well as modern manufacturing and analysis tools. The course comprised classroom lectures on turbomachinery, additive manufacturing, and materials science; guest lectures from industry experts on real-world applications of additive manufacturing; and labs in which students designed, 3D printed, and tested a metallic impeller. For the lab component, students were split into teams, and each team was assigned a different metal additive manufacturing modality – binder jet 3D printing, laser-powder bed fusion, or sandcasting using 3D printed patterns. This talk will summarize the course and our experiences running it for the first time. |