Curtin Sarawak students make concrete fly!

Miri – 28 April, 2009 – Incredible as it may seem, concrete can indeed be made to fly, as demonstrated by three innovative Curtin Sarawak students who have not only made frisbees out of concrete, but made them fly for distances of more than 35 metres.

The three final-year Civil & Construction Engineering students – Jasony James Padasian Ajuni, Ng Boon Yuh and Gan Tze Neng – recently achieved impressive results in the Intervarsity Concrete Frisbee Competition 2009 (ICFC 09) organised by the Civil Engineering Students’ Society of Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Tronoh, Perak.

Prior to the competition, they spent a significant amount of time designing and perfecting their frisbees in Curtin Sarawak’s concrete laboratory under the supervision of lecturers Dr. Djiwantoro Hardjito and Ir. Ahmad Tamby Kadir.

“We have successfully proven that concrete can indeed be made to fly considerable distances! Our concrete frisbees have created a lot of interest both locally and nationally, and our performance in the competition says a lot about the level of innovation and technical expertise at Curtin Sarawak,” said Ir. Ahmad Tamby, adding that the materials for the frisbees were all sourced in Miri.

For the distance test in the competition, the Curtin Sarawak team’s concrete frisbee achieved the furthest distance amongst the 19 teams from 11 universities across Malaysia.

In addition, their frisbee came in second in the weight test in which the lightest Frisbees scored the highest points, and made a good showing in the durability test where frisbees were dropped from a certain height and points awarded to frisbees for the highest retaining weight ratio between the weight before and after the test. Other competition criteria included accuracy and poster presentation.

“Making frisbees out of concrete did not seem all that plausible at first, much less make them fly, but we did it, and we even came out tops in the competition,” said an elated Gan Tze Neng. He added that it took a fair amount of experimentation to get the frisbees just right and to perform as required, but it was well worth the effort.

Jasony James, meanwhile, said, “The competition gave students an opportunity to explore the potential in concrete, as well as apply and broaden skills and theories learnt in classes. We had a great time preparing for the competition and, considering the formidable field of opponents we were up against, we are really proud of the results achieved.“

(L-R) Jasony James Padasian Ajuni, Ng Boon Yuh, Ir. Ahmad Tamby Kadir, Gan Tze Neng.