Internship "Lightweight Engineering" at KIT for 10th graders

Topic

Increased environmental awareness and scarcity of resources combined with high demands for safety and comfort result in a conflict of goals for future mobility. An important contribution to reconciling these requirements lies in the weight reduction of load-bearing components - a core idea of lightweight construction.

Ideally, the component design makes optimum use of the mechanical material properties and can also be manufactured easily and without defects. Successfully combining these three fields is an extremely complex task and requires competencies from various engineering disciplines.

The aim of the internship "Lightweight Engineering" is to familiarize students with the specifics and interaction of the engineering competencies involved. In each subject area, the participants work independently on a technical lightweight construction problem and gain insights into both specific issues of the engineering profession and the overall context of lightweight construction.

Internship concept

The content of the internship is divided into five independent units which build on each other and reflect the typical stages of component development in lightweight construction (see below). At each stage, the participants work on a small technical task of their own, such as adapting CAD designs or testing components. 3D component printing serves as an example.

Each unit is organized by an institute, which designs a daily program and task, such as step-by-step adaptation and recalculation of component designs.
The units interlock, so that the component designs are first recalculated, then 3D printed, and finally tested. The week ends with a presentation and discussion of the results with the participating scientists.