Whatever floats your boat!

What floats your boat? How ‘bout a desert-style racing vehicle in a lake? Dow Chemical’s generous donation of blue foam sheets becomes the building blocks of nearly every team project.

The concrete canoe builders use the water jet lab to cut out dozens of foam panels (above) that make up the mold against which the concrete is formed. Solar car uses the lightweight material to form the body on which the solar cells are mounted, the Advanced Aero Vehicle Group covers thin foam sections with Kevlar to form the plane’s ribs, the Formula SAE, Human Powered Vehicle, and Land Speed Challenge racing teams all use the rigid foam to mold their body panels, and the Baja team even used Dow’s product to build its highly successful flotation chambers for its amphibious off-road (get it?) race car. Thanks, Dow Chemical!!