Manufacturing Science

To understand, control, improve, or invent a manufacturing process, one must
1) gather material and process data from controlled experiments,
2) develop a fundamental science base of the process,
3) formulate a mathematical model that describes the physics of it, and
4) build simulations and create virtual manufacturing scenarios.
Faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering have used these four cornerstones in a variety of manufacturing processes.

Rapid Prototyping
Rapid prototyping (RP) provides valuable design tools for reducing product development cycle times by creating physical models. As a part progresses from concept to commercial reality, it is usually necessary to build prototypes for testing and modifications. Conventional tool development and fabrication can be time consuming and expensive. Low-volume prototype tooling is highly desirable if a limited number of parts can be produced quickly and economically. RP technologies

can be applied to the production of such low-volume tooling. In addition, rapid tooling approaches have the potential to enable high-volume processes such as injection molding to be competitive at lower production volumes.

Coating Processes
The application of liquid coatings to manufactured products is vital in most industries. Until recently, little attention was given to fundamental scientific issues, and techniques were discovered empirically. Department researchers are developing a comprehensive mathematical and numerical model for the fluid mechanics of coatings, including the effects of surface tension, substrate geometry, the energetics of wetting and spreading, and compositional rheology. Both continuous and batch processes are being modeled. Laboratory investigation complements the theoretical effort.

Grinding Processes
Grinding is the preferred machining technique for ceramics, metals, and composites when a high-quality surface finish is required. Achieving high product quality requires careful control of the workpiece surface temperatures, as large temperature gradients can cause thermal warping and lead to a serious loss of dimensional tolerance. The objective of this work is to develop a model that predicts the surface temperatures of the workpiece when grinding with an oil-in-water emulsion coolant.

Static Mixing
Static mixers offer advantages such as low cost, compactness, lack of moving parts, and closed-system operation. This research is motivated by a desire to understand the effectiveness of static mixers over a range of operating conditions. Imaging techniques provide a nonintrusive, automated method to extract the degree of mixing.

Polymer and Polymer Composites Processing
Polymers, polymer blends, and composites are found in nearly one third of the world's products. This research focuses on understanding the transport processes in composite materials and rheologically complex fluids. The physics fundamentals are also incorporated in numerical simulations to predict the flow and heat transfer behavior during manufacturing.

Fiber Preforming, Composite Microstructure, and Performance
In fiber-reinforced composite materials, the final material properties are inextricably linked to the manufacturing process. The goal is to identify the fundamental relationships among the manufacturing process, the composite microstructure, and the material performance, enabling tailored design. Recent advances include the development of textile preforming technology for fabrication of three-dimensional structures and the use of microwave heating to accelerate consolidation and processing for enhanced mechanical properties.

Which faculty members are doing research in this area? Take a look at the Faculty Research Matrix to find out.