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“Lil Domey II” Team Impresses at Materials Conference

A team of four MSE students earned awards in the “DomesDay” competition at the ASM 2022 International Materials, Applications & Technologies (IMAT) annual meeting in New Orleans on September 13, 2022.

The DomesDay competition involves the design, synthesis and testing of a structurally stable geodesic dome. The UT MSE team consisted of sophomore Marlena Alexander, senior Jack Fredrick, senior Raymond Wysmierski, and doctoral student Cole Franz. Under the advising of Jerry Egeland, MSE safety officer and academic support coordinator, they cast an aluminum geodesic dome in the MSE laboratories in Dougherty Hall.

To qualify, the dome had to meet certain specifications, including a compression test, to protect an egg. Our team was complimented by the judges on their knowledge, effort, and how much they learned, as well as the ability of the dome—affectionately named Lil’ Domey II—to protect the egg.

The MSE dome was the only metal (aluminum alloy) casted dome and won two of the four awards:  “The Most Impressive Destruction” and “Overall Runner Up,” out of seven domes competing from the United States and Mexico. The scoring for the overall competition included not only the compression testing of the dome, but also its aesthetics, a three-minute poster presentation, and a Q&A session with the judges. The award for impressive destruction reflected the dome’s failure mechanism: Each time a component in the dome failed, it made a musical “tink” noise.

Congratulations to the team!