Sustainable MATERIALS

ISEP, through the Department of Mechanical Engineering (DEM), starts on February 23^rd its participation in the first of three Blended Intensive Programs (BIP) planned for the current academic year. Continuing the experience accumulated since 2003, students and teachers of Mechanical Engineering will participate in the Sustainable Materials course, which takes place in Vilnius, followed by two other IPs in Terrassa and Radom.

BIP are intensive courses involving European partners, between higher education institutions and companies, to address the latest trends and innovations in specific areas of knowledge. In addition to the contribution in terms of learning to work in teams and multicultural environments, the richness of the BIP lies in the fact that they address topics of such a recent and innovative nature that they represent the vanguard of knowledge.

Lasting 15 days, these courses have a workload of eight hours a day, which include theoretical and practical classes, workshops and visits to laboratories and companies. The experience is further enriched by the intercultural experience, which combines traditions from the host country of the BIP with the interaction between students, teachers and companies.

For those responsible for the DEM, these participations have produced excellent results at an academic and scientific level. Not only do courses generate work with merit that can be published, but they have also boosted an extra motivation factor for participating students. The reflections of these experiences also make an undeniable contribution to the constant exercise of comparing and adapting curricula. By validating that ISEP courses are part of the models of good international practice, the added value ends up being passed on to the remaining and future students of the institution, contributing to the formation of more competitive professionals.

Lastly, the BIPs also favor the widening and deepening of the network of European contacts, contributing to the internationalization of the ISEP brand itself, in accordance with the spirit of the European Higher Education Area.

ONLINE COMPONENT  (Before week in Porto)

Lectures (synchronous)

• Introduction to materials
• Introduction to sustainability
• Distribute students making 5-6 teams
• Distribute projects by the groups
• Assign a supervisor and start the project work

Week in Porto

• Lectures (2 per partner)
• Lab Work
• Visit(s) to companies
• Social Programme
• Mid term presentations and supervisor feed-back

Online component  (after week in Porto)

• Send report to supervisors
• Final presentations
• Assessment

Possible projects

From scrap to product

Natural fiber composites and full recyclable composites

• Selection of natural fibers to study
• Selection of the resin/matrix system

• Production of testing plates
• Testing - get material relevant properties

• Report containing:

1. Compare obtained results with other materials
2. Applications/sustainability gains

Presentation/discussion/assessment