Students take lessons in the university laboratory

The materials laboratory at the university focussed on testing the hardness of various materials. "A hammer must be harder than the material it is supposed to work on. A hardness test can prove whether this is the case," explained Stefanie Uhe, who was visiting the university together with her colleague Nadine Zeidler and her eleventh-grade class from the vocational grammar school. They went straight into practice. A group of her students listened intently to the instructions of Malte Kemper, a scientific and technical employee at the university. He explained how to use universal hardness testers with diamond tips with various hardness testing methods. "In the Vickers hardness test, a square diamond pyramid is pressed into the material to be tested with a defined force. This creates an impression of the diamond pyramid in the material. The size of the impression is then determined using optical magnification and the hardness value is determined using tables or by calculation. In another test method, the Rockwell hardness test, a diamond cone is pressed into the material and the penetration depth is measured," says Malte Kemper.

The students had already learnt the theoretical basics in class. Using the hardness values they measured themselves, they checked in the university laboratory whether the material samples fulfil the corresponding standard values. The students placed the various steel samples on the test plate one after the other, then a small diamond tip was lowered and measured the hardness. They looked expectantly at the tables and proudly announced the correct values. "As a rule, you measure three times and then calculate the average value," explained Malte Kemper.

The students learnt how to examine the microstructure of materials in Prof. Dr Bettina Camin's metallography laboratory. Here they looked at the steel samples under the microscope. "In addition to analysing materials, microscopy is also used to analyse damage to components, because the damage that is later visible macroscopically, such as a corroded and therefore leaking water pipe, has its cause in the microstructure. Microscopy helps the materials engineers in their search for the cause of the damage, just as a magnifying glass helps Sherlock Holmes in his search for the smallest traces and clues," says Prof Dr Bettina Camin. For some of the eleventh-graders, it was their first time looking through a microscope. The current microscope image could be transferred to a monitor for the classmates standing nearby, so everyone had a clear view of the fine structures of the various metals at the same time.

The co-operation between the Max-Eyth-Schule and the
Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences has existed since 2011.
joint projects are also part of the collaboration. "The annual work placement
internship in the field of materials engineering is always very popular,"
says Prof Dr Bettina Camin. This was confirmed by the school class. "The
were enthusiastic about all the technical rooms and laboratories. They loved the day and the overview of the degree programmes on offer," says Stefanie
Uhe. Since the start of the cooperation, some students have found their way to  to Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences after graduating from Max-Eyth-Schule. "This
shows that the cooperation is successful for both sides," said Stefanie
Uhe.

(Text: Jurina Kleemeyer and Nadine Metzler)

Translated with DeepL