Student Class

Designing with Aluminum Extrusions PowerPoint presentation (for students and instructors!)

Competition Rules and Judging Criteria

Students: Click here to view the competition overview, scholarship award information and more

Instructors: Incorporate the Aluminum Extrusion Design Competition into your curriculum

The Aluminum Extrusion Design Competition provides an excellent opportunity to teach your students design techniques while exposing them to the material advantages of aluminum and benefits of designing with extruded aluminum.  Incorporating the Design Competition into your curriculum provides an excellent teaching opportunity while offering students a real-world experience in product design. And, the opportunity for students to earn scholarship money is always a strong motivator.

The competition is intended to enlighten students studying engineering, design, and architecture about the superior advantages of extruded aluminum profiles. 

Aluminum’s favorable strength-to-weight ratios, the flexibility of numerous alloys, and the unsurpassed advantages of the extrusion process, including the ability to design to close tolerances, make aluminum extrusion the material process of choice.  

Need to know more about the aluminum extrusion process and designing with aluminum extrusions? Here are some tools to get you started:

Overview of the aluminum extrusion process

Basic facts and key characteristics of aluminum

Comparisons of extruded aluminum versus competing materials

Features and benefits of extruded aluminum

Market sectors served by extruded aluminum

Finishes for extruded aluminum

Aluminum extrusion alloys

New!

Learn more about designing with aluminum extrusions

View and download a classroom presentation specifically created to help instructors and students understand the many advantages that designing with aluminum extrusions offers.

Instructors - use this presentation as a teaching tool in your classroom

Students - view this presentation to learn more about designing with aluminum extrusions

	View the presentation as a PDF (3+ MB file)
	Download the PowerPoint presentation (5+ MB file) By downloading the PowerPoint presentation, you are agreeing to not alter the presentation in any way.  If you have any questions, contact the Executive Offices at mail@etfoundation.org.

Design, Architecture, and Engineering Students:

Apply what you've learned about design and engineering by entering the International Aluminum Extrusion Design Competition.  It's an excellent opportunity for a hands-on learning experience with the potential for professional recognition and earned scholarships.  To help you get started, the ET Foundation has provided you will a wealth of technical resources on aluminum extrusion, found here.  Not familiar with the aluminum extrusion process?  Click here to view a short and simple simulation of the process.

Student Class Scholarship Awards
Enter the competition to receive the recognition you so richly deserve; gain pride and a sense of accomplishment. And, of course, there are the scholarships totaling $8,500!

	Student Class Scholarships:
	Grand Prize (awarded across all categories and classes)	$3,500
	1st place 2nd place 3rd place	$3,000 $2,000 $1,000
	Hydro Sustainable Design:	$2,500
		Scholarships are sponsored once again by Hydro Aluminum North America. In addition to the winning categories above, the Hydro Sustainable Design Award will be presented to the student whose design best demonstrated its benefits to society and the environment. See details below.

Hydro Sustainable Design

The Hydro Sustainable Design Award will be presented to the student entry that meets the following criteria:

• The four basic ET Foundation Design Competition judging criteria: creativity, practicality, process improvement, and market potential
• Best addresses societal and/or environmental concerns
• A viable extrusion-based product that meets the demands of the environment while contributing to the quality of life for its intended users.

Examples that helps to explain the nature of a design that would be considered for this award is:

• A device that helps a third world farmer increase crop yields with less labor
• An item that facilitates daily living for the handicapped or elderly

Examples of past Hydro Sustainable Design winners include:

• 2009 - Alumi-Cooler liquid-to-air intercooler
• 2008 - A fully recyclable laptop computer
• 2006 - Modular Arch
• 2005 - A mobile sediment pond barrier

See photos and details of past winners for design ideas.

IMPORTANT: Interested student applicants should indicate that they are seeking consideration for the Hydro Sustainable Design Award on the Design Competition Entry Form and explain, in their written brief, how their entry meets the criteria.

Aluminum Extrusion Technical Resources

As you plan your design for the International Aluminum Extrusion Design Competition, here are some resources that will assist you with learning about the features and benefits of extruded aluminum, the process used to create them, as well as examples of other design examples using aluminum extrusions:

• See past Design Competition winners
• Visit uspto.gov to peruse the U.S. Patent Office website to research your product's commercial viability, improve on your design, or investigate your idea.

• Designing for Aluminum Extrusion  

  There are no categories to limit your imagination. First, Second, and Third Place Awards may be presented to any design that best satisfies the judging criteria, in addition to the Hydro Sustainable Design Award.

  • Review examples of extruded aluminum applications
  • View extruded aluminum design ideas
• View the Aluminum Extrusion Council's Spotlights, which focus on the following areas of aluminum extrusion:
  • Alloys
  • Anodizing
  • Coatings
  • Competitive Materials
  • Design
  • Tolerances
  • Transportation
• View the Aluminum Extrusion Council's Showcase E-Magazines, which cover the following topics:
  • Green Building Design
  • Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Churchill Downs
  • Extruded Ceiling Track System
  • Design Competition
  • Aluminum Chambered Boats
  • Dulles Airport Automated People Mover
  • Ford GT Supercar
  • International Space Station

*The competition is not limited to the examples listed; these are just a few of the possible applications for aluminum profiles. Designs must be original and make use of at least one extruded aluminum component.  Multiple entries may be entered. If any category yields no entries deemed by the judges to adequately address the competition’s criteria, a prize will not be awarded in that category.

Top