Over the summer of 2021, I interned in the research and development department of Bright Lite Structures in Stamford, England, a technology startup manufacturing company that produces carbon fiber parts for industry.Their product is a patented sandwich structure with a strong, lightweight core between two sheets of carbon fiber. The sandwich is heat molded to fit a specific shape, and a finished product is removed from the press. While I was there, the company was primarily producing two products in this way, airline seats and delivery truck floors.,
Though I was an intern at the company, I was treated as a full-fledged member of the research and development team—the fifth member of said team.
While I was there, the company was testing out different materials for the core of their truck floors. Their former design had used cardboard, which provided all the necessary structural integrity, but the trucking company that bought the floor drilled drainage holes into it without sealing them. Because of this, water got inside the core and the cardboard turned into mush. Therefore, the new material had to offer similar weight parameters and be water resistant.
Much of my daily routine consisted of making smaller sample parts out of different combinations of materials. The parts were about two feet by two feet by two inches and were made on a small heat press. We tested two types of foams, a recycled plastic bottle core, and a polycarbonate core that looked like a ton of drink straws glued together. If any of the materials worked well over multiple sample productions, we would move to producing a full-sized part.
The process for a full-sized part was similar but significantly more cumbersome. Instead of one-man jobs, these ten feet by ten feet by two feet floors had to be loaded into a massive press by the whole R&D team. Eventually, we found a functional material, but needed to order more sheets of it from Germany. Due to COVID and Brexit, the parts would not be delivered until well after my time there had ended. However, I still kept busy. The company also had a design team, some of whom did lots of 3-D modeling work, so I set out to learn that as well.
I learned a lot about working on a team and paid special attention to the people who were able to encourage those around them when morale was lower. These kinds of interpersonal relationship skills are fundamental to any field of engineering, so I made sure to take some mental notes. The managers who were empathetic and good at making people feel heard were near universally liked and respected.
I also learned a lot about going from a computer to the real world. Some of the employees had only ever worked in computer modeling, so they would design a 5 millimeter radius hole to fit a 5 millimeter peg. However, machining holes and pegs to fit exactly is near impossible. This led to a few dreary days for the R&D team—scraping down metal parts so that we could assemble a new tool. I also learned a lot of technical skills like 3-D modeling and heat molding parts.
I have no doubt that I will be applying these skills again soon. I'm now back on Grounds for my third year of undergraduate study. I am majoring in materials science and engineering advised by Professor Beth Opila, and pursuing a double minor in computer science and applied math.