Introduction
Discover what materials have what it takes to protect a battery pack from the outside world as well as the battery pack’s heat.
Questions
- What is the most durable material to use for an enclosure?
Problem to be Solved
- Will it protect the battery pack?
- Will it protect us from the heat produced by the battery pack (this will be tested in Investigation #3)?
- Is it stable enough for someone to stand on it?
- Can it withstand abusive situations (i.e., tossed in a backpack, dropped on accident…hey, it happens!)?
Module
Tensile Test & Durability
Age Group
Middle School
Category
Portable Electric Power
Completion Time
3-5 Class Periods
Summary of Lab
What types of testing do safety engineers put materials through? One type of testing is tensile performance – the resistance of a material to breaking under tension. But it’s not just the strength of the material that matters, the design is also important. The design of the shape needs to protect the battery pack (and other components, but for this lab, we’ll focus on the batteries) and keep the unavoidable battery pack heat from harming the user. Will the design shape stand up to the can of soup (represents the relative weight of a hoverboard passenger)?