Posted to News on 6th Aug 2014, 12:21
Henkel recognises students' adhesive-bonding applications
Last week, for the ninth time, the Hockenheimring - one of Germany's F1 racing venues - was transformed into a place of creative craftsmanship: 115 contestants from around the world were competing against one another in constructing a race car for this year's Formula Student Germany contest. Henkel Adhesive Technologies helped them along the way with technical expertise and Loctite repair products. In addition, the company also honoured the team offering the most impressive adhesive-bonding applications - with the "Best Use of Adhesives" award.
The 6-day period from July 29 to August 3 saw around 2500 up-and-coming engineers, business administrators and economists from 26 countries stepped on the gas to get their self-built race cars onto the grid for Formula Student Germany, a racing sport event for university students. Aside from the racing performance, the jury - made up of members from the motor sport, automotive and components supply industries - also gave scores for engineering design, financial planning and sales pitch presentation. Further crucial criteria included dynamic drive response, reliability and energy efficiency. The best overall package combining these various disciplines in the IC engine vehicle category came from the German-American team from DHBW Ravensburg and the Oregon State University, with the team from ETH Zurich winning the electric vehicle class.
In recognition of the most impressive adhesive-bonding application, Henkel - one of the headline sponsors of Formula Student Germany - recognised the team from the West Saxony University of Applied Sciences, Zwickau, with the "Best Use of Adhesives" award. The students impressed the jury with the most creative and beneficial adhesive-bonding applications, located in the transmission elements and in the chassis of their vehicle, and with their wide-ranging knowledge of adhesives technology. The prize includes an invitation by Henkel Adhesive Technologies to visit the business unit's Technology Centre at its Garching site.
Rudolf Neumayer, Head of Application Engineering, Industrial Adhesives Europe explains: "As our customers of tomorrow, we want to provide these young talents with an insight into the latest adhesive and sealant solutions and let them see the benefits that come with adhesive bonding and its allied technologies for themselves. This will ensure that the future engineers, they consider adhesives right from the start as a viable and valuable alternative to conventional joining technologies - such as welding, soldering and screw-fixing."
Adhesives experts
When these conventional connecting methods in the self-built race cars failed during the competition, the students were able to go along to a 150 square meter Henkel marquee to consult the company's adhesives experts and benefit from their technical know-how, products, workbenches and curing ovens. Henkel also provided each of the teams with a first-aid kit, containing a range of advanced maintenance and repair products from Loctite and Teroson as part of their pit equipment.
Patricia Silva, Marketing Manager for the General Industry SBU at Henkel says: "This event gives us an opportunity to position ourselves in the eyes of these young talents as a global leader in the supply of adhesives, sealants and functional coatings. Our aim is to engage these young talents, get them to talk to us, encourage them in what they are doing and perhaps even pave the way for them to start a career at Henkel. This award provides an extra motivation to these up-and-coming engineers to show us how creative they can be in using the materials of tomorrow."
To learn more about Loctite repair products from Henkel, please visit www.henkel.com.
