TRAINING IN PROJECTS ENGINEERING: BIOLOGICAL MACHINING OF OXYGEN-FREE COPPER

Abstract

Project‐based learning was proposed as a supplementary activity in the Biotechnology course given in the third course of the Grade in Environmental Engineering at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). The proposed activities were based on the knowledge acquired during the development of a research Project carried out by the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering in collaboration with the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the university named before. The main objective of this research project was to study the biological machining of highly pure materials, as an alternative to the conventional manufacturing processes. Based on the experience gained during the development of this research work, some group activities were proposed to the students, such as the presentation of a literature review, the selection of the materials needed for the process, or resources optimization, among others. The theoretical concepts learned during these tasks were applied in a laboratory session. The main goal of this experimental part was to carry out two experiments, using both biological machining and conventional chemical machining processes over oxygen free copper samples, and to compare the results obtained using both technologies.