Week #6: Initial Experiment Materials and Procedure

The team has developed an initial outline for the experiment which they will begin using in their research to develop a penetrating oil.  The material used are: 12 same sized bolts, sulfuric acid, a vice grip, a torque wrench, WD-40, and two other brands of penetrating oil.  These materials will be used to determine the force needed to free the rusted bolts and how WD-40 and the other penetrating oils are able to meet this demand.  The procedure for the experiment will be to place the bolts in sulfuric acid for a few days to stimulate corrosion between the nut and bolt.  The bolts will then be removed from the acid and cleaned.  A bolt will be placed inside a vice grip, which will hold the bolt in place, and sprayed with WD-40.  The torque wrench will then determine the force needed to remove the nut from the bolt, and this will be repeated with the other two penetrating oils.  The data that will be collected will be used to determine how effective the oils are, in order to compare it and help with the design for the penetrating oil that the team produces.

Week #4-5: Stakeholders and Design Goal Expanded

The team has reevaluated the aspects of this project, such as their stakeholders and the main project goal.  It has been determined that the direct stakeholders will be a series of groups consisting of the community, design team, hardware stores, environment, manufacturers and machinists.  The community has a demand for the newly developed penetrating oil, which must be created by the design team.  Since the project is mainly being considered for Africa, the places that will sell this product are the hardware stores.  Based on the created product’s cost effectiveness, the manufacturers will have to mass-produce the penetrating oil that will be sold at these stores.  The machinist who will be using the product in Africa have to be able to use the product in a simple manor and understand it’s proper use and any dangers that might be involved while handling it.  Lastly the environment must be considered.  The product should be more or less environmentally safe so that the product will put little to no stress on the environment in the areas that use and dispose of the penetrating oil.

The team has also come-up with the single most important aspect of the penetrating oil’s design, lubrication.  The lubrication of the oil determines how well it can penetrate the rust between metals and fasteners, so that they may be separated.  The overall effectiveness of the designed oil’s ability to lubricate while being cost-effective and meeting the demands of the stakeholders will determine how successful the group’s design truly is.