Lightweight Design, 7.5 credits

Main field of study with advanced study

Degree of Bachelor of Science with a major in Mechanical Engineering of 180 Swedish credit points or 180 ECTS credits at an accredited university, or the equivalent. English 6.

The course is a part of Master's Programme (60 credits) in Mechanical Engineering. The course is given as a single subject course.

The goal of this course is to give the student an understanding of the importance to the development stage of product thinking through design and material selection in order to optimize the product's weight and material consumption. The development of lightweight structures with regard to choice of materials, environmental, structural design, and optimization is essential when developing new products. The cost of production of lightweight structures and materials must be related to the benefit of the reduced weight and the higher utilization it results in.

Following successful completion fo the course the student should:

Knowledge and understanding

• Explain and describe basic concepts used in the design of a lightweight construction
• Explain what is meant by constructive design when selecting a suitable lightweight construction
• Describe different types of materials suitable for lightweight construction

Skills and ability

• Manage a real design problems and carry out an overall (global) optimization of a design solution regarding the structure and selected materials
• Communicate techniques and terminology in lightweight designs in both spoken and written
• Optimize a design solution for a simpler design problem subjected to structural loads

Judgement and approach

• Evaluate the results obtained and suggest any additional analyzes, material or design changes in the original design solution

Constructive design where general rules and guidelines for constructive design is treated. Different lightweight materials will be presented, focusing on its advantages and disadvantages as well as its technical design characteristics, costs and environmental impact.

The course also includes a minor optimization task, where the participants shall describe the conditions, materials, and boundary conditions for the optimization. The problem is dissolved in, for the problem relevant software, and the results are evaluated with implementation proposals

The course ends with the student describes his or her solution to the problem by considering the conditions, method, life cycle assessment, any secondary operations, assembly technology and cost analysis.

The course consists of five blocks:

• Lightweight design
• Metallic Materials
• Polymeric Materials
• Composite materials.
• Constructive design

Teaching is in the form of tutorials, lectures, guest lectures and compulsory exercises and/or project tasks. To pass the course it is required that the mandatory assignments have been reported. A major project is done where the participants are given the task to develop a lightweight design in accordance with the principles presented in the course.

This course is both distance learning/campus learning and teaching takes place with the help of modern information and communication technologies.

The course is examined through an individual written examination (Optimization) and two written examinations carried out in groups (Composite, lab and Final project).

If there are special reasons, the examiner may make exceptions from the specified examination format and allow a student to be examined in another way. Special reasons can e.g. be study support for students with disabilities.

Course evaluation is part of the course. This evaluation offers guidance in the future development and planning of the course. Course evaluation is documented and made available to the students.