advanced manufacturing technology - special manufacturing processes

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Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Steve Goddard Review the applications of special manufacturing processes Assignment 2 Contents Chemical Machining 2 Electro discharge machining 4 Laser Beam machining 5 Water Jet Cutting 6 PCB Routing and Drilling 7 Ultrasonic Machining 9 Rapid Prototyping 10 Plasma Cutting 11 Emerging Technologies 12 Economics of non-traditional manufacturing processes Conclusion Introduction In this report I am going to begin with looking into the special and non- conventional manufacturing processes and explain how these work and some relevant examples of where they might be used. I will then go on to discuss the emerging and future technologies that are soon to be getting used within industry. I will describe the economics of non-traditional manufacturing, making reference to traditional methods if possible and deciding on the correct reasons to invest in using these processes. Finally I will select a number of products which require a mixture of these processes to be made and talk about their manufacturing process. Page 1 of 19

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Page 1: Advanced Manufacturing Technology - Special Manufacturing Processes

Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Steve Goddard

Review the applications of special manufacturing processes

Assignment 2

Contents

Chemical Machining2

Electro discharge machining4

Laser Beam machining 5

Water Jet Cutting 6

PCB Routing and Drilling 7

Ultrasonic Machining 9

Rapid Prototyping 10

Plasma Cutting 11

Emerging Technologies 12

Economics of non-traditional manufacturing processes

Conclusion

Introduction

In this report I am going to begin with looking into the special and non-conventional manufacturing processes and explain how these work and some relevant examples of where they might be used. I will then go on to discuss the emerging and future technologies that are soon to be getting used within industry.

I will describe the economics of non-traditional manufacturing, making reference to traditional methods if possible and deciding on the correct reasons to invest in using these processes. Finally I will select a number of products which require a mixture of these processes to be made and talk about their manufacturing process.

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Processes

Chemical Machining

Principle of Operation

During Electrochemical Machining, a direct current with high density and low voltage is passed between a work piece (the anode) and a pre-shaped tool (the cathode). At the anodic work piece surface, metal is dissolved into metallic ions by the depleting reaction, and thus the tool shape is copied into the work piece.

Various industrial techniques have been developed on the basis of this ECM principle such as:

Electrochemical cutting Electrochemical ECM Electrochemical broaching Electrochemical drilling  Electrochemical deburring

Electrochemical machining is used for the manufacture of dies, press and glass-making molds, turbine and compressor blades for gas-turbine engine, the generation of passages, cavities, holes and slots in parts. ECM deburring is used for deburring of gears, hydraulic and fuel-system parts, small electronic components and engine parts.

Advantages of Electrochemical Machining

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Electrochemical Machining has many advantages when compared to conventional machining.

The components are not subject to either thermal or mechanical stress

There is no tool wear during Electrochemical machining 

Non-rigid and open work pieces can be machined easily as there is no contact between the tool and work piece 

Complex geometrical shapes can be machined repeatedly and accurately

Electrochemical machining is a time saving process when compared with conventional machining

During drilling, deep holes can be made or several holes at once.

ECM deburring can debur difficult to access areas of parts.

Fragile parts which cannot take more loads and also brittle material which tend to develop cracks during machining can be machined easily through Electrochemical machining

Surface finishes of 25 μ in. can be achieved during Electrochemical machining

Material that can be cut with Electrochemical Machining

All types of conducting materials and alloys can be machined using electrochemical machining.

Turbine Nozzles

The converging-diverging nozzles (pictured right) were electrochemically machined in Inconel® 625. Due to tight tolerances and extremely flat approach angles (usually 16º or less) electrochemical machining is often the most effective method for machining turbine nozzles blocks. Because no forces exist between the work piece and tool, holes at virtually any angle can be machined into extremely hard materials. BNI's two electrochemical nozzle block machines have a maximum tool travel of 30.5 cm (12 inches) and a maximum total work piece diameter of 76.2 cm (30 inches).

Turbine Blading

The tight tolerance turbine blades (pictured left) were machined using ECM. BNI operates five ECM centres; three are designed for producing turbine blisks with a maximum diameter of 73.7 cm (29 inches). ECM provides a high-quality, efficient method for producing turbine wheels with intricate blades. Optimized leading edge shape and improved gas flow path consistency can be obtained due to superior control and repeatability. Additionally,

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Electrochemically Machined turbine blades can be placed closer together and as a result the turbine is more efficient.

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Electro Discharge Machining (die sinking, wire cutting)

EDM is a machining method primarily used for hard metals or those that would be impossible to machine with traditional techniques. One critical limitation, however, is that EDM only works with materials that are electrically conductive. EDM or Electrical Discharge Machining is especially well-suited for cutting intricate contours or delicate cavities that would be difficult to produce with a grinder, an end mill or other cutting tools. Metals that can be machined with EDM include hastalloy, hardened tool-steel, titanium, carbide, Inconel and Kovar.EDM is sometimes called "spark machining" because it removes metal by producing a rapid series of repetitive electrical discharges. These electrical discharges are passed between an electrode and the piece of metal being machined. The small amount of material that is removed from the work piece is flushed away with a continuously flowing fluid. The repetitive discharges create a set of successively deeper craters in the work piece until the final shape is produced.

There are two primary EDM methods: ram EDM and wire EDM. The primary difference between the two involves the electrode that is used to perform the machining. In a typical ram EDM application, a graphite electrode is machined with traditional tools. The now specially-shaped electrode is connected to the power source, attached to a ram, and slowly fed into the work piece. The entire machining operation is usually performed while submerged in a fluid bath. The fluid serves the following three purposes:

Flushes material away Serves as a coolant to minimize the heat affected zone (thereby preventing potential

damage to the work piece) Acts as a conductor for the current to pass between the electrode and the work piece.

In wire EDM a very thin wire serves as the electrode. Special brass wires are typically used; the wire is slowly fed through the material and the electrical discharges actually cut the work piece. Wire EDM is usually performed in a bath of water. If you were to observe the wire EDM process under a microscope, you would discover that the wire itself does not actually touch the metal to be cut; the electrical discharges actually remove small amounts of material and allow the wire to be moved through the work piece. The path of the wire is typically controlled by a computer, which allows extremely complex shapes to be produced.Imagine stretching a thin metal wire between your hands and sliding it though a block of cheese cutting any shapes you want. You can alter the positions of your hands on either side of the cheese to define complex and curved shapes. Wire EDM works in a similar fashion, except electrical discharge machining can handle some of the hardest materials used in industry. Also note that in dragging a wire through cheese, the wire is actually displacing the cheese as it cuts, but in EDM a thin kerf is created by removing tiny particles of metal.Electrical discharge machining is frequently used to make dies and molds. It has

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recently become a standard method of producing prototypes and some production parts, particularly in low volume applications.

Laser Machining

Lasers are being used for a variety of industrial applications, including heat treatment, measurement, as well as scribing, cutting, and drilling. The term laser stands for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. A laser is an optical transducer that converts electrical energy into a highly coherent light beam. A laser light beam has several properties that distinguish it from other forms of light. It is monochromatic (theoretically, the light has a single wave length) and highly collimated (the light rays in the beam are almost perfectly parallel). These properties allow the light generated by a laser to be focused, using conventional optical lenses, onto a very small spot with resulting high power densities.

Laser beam machining (LBM) uses the light energy from a laser to remove material by vaporization and ablation. The setup for LBM is illustrated in Figure 26.14. The types of lasers used in LBM are carbon dioxide gas lasers and solid-state lasers (of which there are several types). In laser beam machining, the energy of the coherent light beam is concentrated not only optically but also in terms of time. The light beam is pulsed so that the released energy results in an impulse against the work surface that produces a combination of evaporation and melting, with the melted material evacuating the surface at high velocity.

LBM is used to perform various types of drilling, slitting, slotting, scribing, and marking operations. Drilling small diameter holes is possible-down to 0.025 mm (0.001 in). For larger holes, above 0.50 mm (0.020 in) diameter, the laser beam is controlled to cut the outline of the hole. LBM is not considered a

mass production process, and it is generally used on thin stock. The range of work materials that can be machined by LBM is virtually unlimited. Ideal properties of a material for LBM include high light energy absorption, poor reflectivity, good thermal conductivity, low specific heat, low heat of fusion, and low heat of vaporization. Of course, no material has this ideal combination of properties. The actual list of work materials processed by LBM includes metals with high hardness and strength, soft metals, ceramics, glass and glass epoxy, plastics, rubber, cloth, and wood.

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Water Jet Cutting

Water jet cutting is capable of cutting metal or other materials using a jet of water at high velocity and pressure, or a mixture of water and an abrasive substance. The process is similar to water erosion found in nature but greatly accelerated and concentrated. The water jet process provides many unique capabilities and advantages that can prove very effective for costs. But beyond cost cutting, the water jet process is recognized as the most versatile and fastest growing process in the world (according to Frost & Sullivan and the Market Intelligence Research Corporation). Water jets are used in high production applications across the globe. They compliment other technologies such as milling, laser, EDM, plasma and routers. No noxious gases or liquids are used in water jet cutting, and water jets do not create hazardous materials or vapours. No heat effected zones or mechanical stresses are left on a water jet cut surface. It is truly a versatile, productive, cold cutting process.The water jet has also shown that it can do things that other technologies simply cannot. From cutting tiny details in stone, glass and metals; to rapid hole drilling of titanium; to cutting of food, to the killing of pathogens in beverages and dips, the water jet has proven itself unique.

To work the cutter is connected to a high-pressure water pump where the water is then ejected from the nozzle, cutting through the material by spraying it with the jet of high-speed water. Additives in the form of suspended grit or other abrasives, such as garnet and aluminum oxide, can assist in this process. (Left)

An important benefit of the water jet cutter is the ability to cut material without interfering with the material's inherent structure as there is no "heat-affected zone" or HAZ. Minimizing the effects of heat allows metals to be cut without harming or changing intrinsic properties.Water jet cutters are also capable of producing rather intricate cuts in material. The kerf, or width, of the cut can be changed by changing parts in the nozzle, as well as the type and size of abrasive. Typical abrasive cuts are made with a kerf in the range of 0.04" to 0.05" (1.016 to

1.27 mm), but can be as narrow as 0.02" (0.508 mm). Non-abrasive cuts are normally 0.007" to 0.013" (0.178 to 0.33 mm), but can be as small as 0.003" (0.076 mm), which is approximately the size of a human hair. These small cutters can make very small detail possible in a wide range of applications.

Water jet is considered a "green" technology. Water jets produce no hazardous waste, reducing waste disposal costs. They can cut off large pieces of reusable scrap material that might have been lost using traditional cutting methods. Parts can be closely nested to maximize material use, and the water jet saves material by creating very little kerf. Water jets use very little water (a half gallon to approximately one gallon per minute depending on cutting head orifice size), and the water that is used can be recycled using a closed-looped system. Waste water usually is clean enough to filter and dispose of down a drain. The garnet abrasive is a non-toxic natural substance

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that can be recycled for repeated use. Garnet usually can be disposed of in a landfill. Water jets also eliminate airborne dust particles, smoke, fumes, and contaminates from cutting materials such as asbestos and fiberglass. This greatly improves the work environment and reduces problems arising from operator exposure

PCB routing and drilling

A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks, or traces, etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board (PWB) or etched wiring board. A PCB populated with electronic components is a printed circuit assembly (PCA), also known as a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA).PCBs are inexpensive, and can be highly reliable. They require much more layout effort and higher initial cost than either wire-wrapped or point-to-point constructed circuits, but are much cheaper and faster for high-volume production

Conducting layers are typically made of thin copper foil. Insulating layers dielectric are typically laminated together with epoxy resin prepreg. The board is typically coated with a solder mask that is green in color. Other colors that are normally available are blue and red.

Manufacture

The vast majority of printed circuit boards are made by bonding a layer of copper over the entire substrate, sometimes on both sides, (creating a "blank PCB") then removing unwanted copper after applying a temporary mask (eg. by etching), leaving only the desired copper traces. A few PCBs are made by adding traces to the bare substrate (or a substrate with a very thin layer of copper) usually by a complex process of multiple electroplating steps.

There are three common "subtractive" methods (methods that remove copper) used for the production of printed circuit boards:

1. Silk screen printing uses etch-resistant inks to protect the copper foil. Subsequent etching removes the unwanted copper. Alternatively, the ink may be conductive, printed on a blank (non-conductive) board. The latter technique is also used in the manufacture of hybrid circuits.

2. Photoengrraving uses a photomask and chemical etching to remove the copper foil from the substrate. The photomask is usually prepared with a photoplotter from data produced by a technician using CAM, or computer-aided manufacturing software. Laser-printed transparencies are typically employed for phototools; however, direct laser imaging techniques are being employed to replace phototools for high-resolution requirements.

3. PCB milling uses a two or three-axis mechanical milling system to mill away the copper foil from the substrate. A PCB milling machine (referred to as a 'PCB Prototyper') operates in a similar way to a plotter, receiving commands from the host software that control the position of the milling head in the x, y, and (if relevant) z axis. Data to drive the Prototyper

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is extracted from files generated in PCB design software and stored in HPGL or Gerber file format.

"Additive" processes also exist. The most common is the "semi-additive" process. In this version, the unpatterned board has a thin layer of copper already on it. A reverse mask is then applied. (Unlike a subtractive process mask, this mask exposes those parts of the substrate that will eventually become the traces.) Additional copper is then plated onto the board in the unmasked areas; copper may be plated to any desired weight. Tin-lead or other surface platings are then applied. The mask is stripped away and a brief etching step removes the now-exposed original copper laminate from the board, isolating the individual traces. Some boards with plated thru holes but still single sided were made with a process like this. General Electric made consumer radio sets in the late 1960s using boards like these.Drilling

Holes through a PCB are typically drilled with tiny drill bits made of solid tungsten carbide. The drilling is performed by automated drilling machines with placement controlled by a drill tape or drill file. These computer-generated files are also called numerically controlled drill (NCD) files or "Excellon files". The drill file describes the location and size of each drilled hole. These holes are often filled with annular rings (hollow rivets) to create vias. Vias allow the electrical and thermal connection of conductors on opposite sides of the PCB.Most common laminate is epoxy filled fiberglass. Drill bit wear is in part due to the fact that glass, being harder than steel on the Mohs scale, can scratch steel. High drill speed necessary for cost effective drilling of hundreds of holes per board causes very high temperatures at the drill bit tip, and high temperatures (400-700 degrees) soften steel and decompose (oxidize) laminate filler. Copper is softer than epoxy and interior conductors may suffer damage during drilling.When very small vias are required, drilling with mechanical bits is costly because of high rates of wear and breakage. In this case, the vias may be evaporated by lasers. Laser-drilled vias typically have an inferior surface finish inside the hole. These holes are called micro vias.It is also possible with controlled-depth drilling, laser drilling, or by pre-drilling the individual sheets of the PCB before lamination, to produce holes that connect only some of the copper layers, rather than passing through the entire board. These holes are called blind vias when they connect an internal copper layer to an outer layer, or buried vias when they connect two or more internal copper layers and no outer layers.The walls of the holes, for boards with 2 or more layers, are made conductive then plated with copper to form plated-through holes that electrically connect the conducting layers of the PCB. For multilayer boards, those with 4 layers or more, drilling typically produces a smear comprised of the high temperature decomposition products of bonding agent in the laminate system. Before the holes can be plated through, this smear must be removed by a chemical de-smear process, or by plasma-etch. Removing (etching back) the smear also reveals the interior conductors as well.

Single Sided PCB Manufacturing Sequence

Circuit Design PCB Substrate Manufacture

Mask Production Trim To Size

Registration Holes etc. Added

Application of Photoresist

Photolithography Exposure and Resist Development

Etching

CNC Drilling

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Protective Layer Added Over Copper Tracks and Edge Connectors Gold Plated

Test Board

Solder Resist and Component Placement Legend Added

To AssemblyUltrasonic Machining

Ultrasonic machining (USM) is a process in which abrasives contained in a slurry are driven at high velocity against the work by a tool vibrating at low amplitude-around 0.075 mm (0.003 in) and high frequency-approximately 20,000 Hz. The tool oscillates in a direction perpendicular to the work surface, and is fed slowly into the work, so that the shape of the tool is formed in the part. However, it is the action of the abrasives, impinging against the work surface that performs the cutting.

This machining process is non-thermal, non-chemical, and non-electrical. It does not change the metallurgical, chemical or physical properties of the work piece.

The machined area becomes counterpart of the cutting tool used. Therefore ultrasonic machining can offer an almost limitless assortment of types and shapes of cuts to meet any design requirements.

The tool never contacts the work piece and as a result the grinding pressure is rarely more than 2 pounds this makes ultrasonic machining is suitable for machining of hard, brittle materials including:

Glass Sapphire Alumina Ferrite PCD Piezoceramics Quartz CVD Silicon Carbide Technical Ceramics Ruby

Applications for ultrasonic machining include:

Tight-tolerance round thru-holes for semiconductor processing equipment components

Micro machined and micro-structured glass wafers for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) applications

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Rapid Prototyping

Rapid prototyping can be described as the automatic construction of physical objects using additive manufacturing technology. The first methods and techniques for rapid prototyping became available in the late 1980s and were used to produce models and prototype parts. Today, they are used for a much wider range of applications and are even used to manufacture production-quality parts in relatively small numbers.

Rapid prototyping can take virtual designs from computer aided design (CAD) or animation modeling software, transforms them into thin, virtual, horizontal cross-sections and then creates successive layers until the model is complete.The machine reads in data from a CAD drawing and lays down successive layers of liquid, powder, or sheet material, and in this way builds up the model from a series of cross sections. These layers, which correspond to the virtual cross section from the CAD model, are joined together or fused automatically to create the final shape. The primary advantage to additive fabrication is its ability to create almost any shape or geometric feature.The standard data interface between CAD software and the machines is the STL file format. An STL file approximates the shape of a part or assembly using triangular facets. Smaller facets produce a higher quality surface.The word "rapid" is relative: construction of a model with contemporary methods can take from several hours to several days, depending on the method used and the size and complexity of the model. Additive systems for rapid prototyping can typically produce models in a few hours, although it can vary widely depending on the type of machine being used and the size and number of models being produced simultaneously.Some solid freeform fabrication techniques use two materials in the course of constructing parts. The first material is the part material and the second is the support material. The support material is later removed by heat or dissolved away with a solvent or water.Additive fabrication can be faster and less expensive when producing relatively small quantities of parts. 3D printers give designers and concept development teams the ability to produce parts and concept models using a desktop size printer.

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The above pie chart describes the use of rapid prototyping across various industries. Aerospace represent an 8.2% share according to this.

At Agustawestland (AW) rapid prototyping is used to build models as concepts, visual aids or pre-production parts so the designers can get an idea of the physical part before full scale production is started. The models made at AW are usually to a smaller scale and a good example would be the picture to the right showing a rapid prototype of the AW139 Tail Gearbox. This model has been used as a visual aid during meetings to quickly describe a specific location on the gearbox it has also been used in critical design reviews to aid the designers and management’s analysis when the design is approaching final issue.

Plasma Cutting

Plasma is defined as a superheated, electrically ionized gas. Plasma arc cutting (PAC) uses a plasma stream operating at temperatures in the range 10,000ºC–14,000ºC (18,000ºF–25,000ºF) to cut metal by melting, as shown below. The cutting action operates by directing the high-velocity plasma stream at the work therefore melting it and blowing the molten metal through the kerf. The plasma arc is generated between an electrode inside the torch and the anode work piece. The plasma flows through a water-cooled nozzle that constricts and directs the stream to the desired location on the work. The resulting plasma jet is a high-velocity, well-collimated stream with extremely high temperatures at its centre, hot enough to cut through metal in some cases 150 mm (6 in) thick.

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Gases used to create the plasma in PAC include nitrogen, argon, hydrogen, or mixtures of these gases. These are referred to as the primary gases in the process. Secondary gases or water are often directed to surround the plasma jet to help confine the arc and clean the kerf of molten metal as it forms.

Most applications of PAC involve cutting of flat metal sheets and plates. Operations include hole piercing and cutting along a defined path. The desired path can be cut either by use of a hand-held torch manipulated by a human operator, or by directing the cutting path of the torch under numerical control (NC). For faster production and higher accuracy, NC is preferred because of better control over the important process variables such as standoff distance and feed rate. Plasma arc cutting can be used to cut nearly any electrically conductive metal. Metals frequently cut by PAC include plain carbon steel, stainless steel, and aluminium. The advantage of NC PAC in these applications is high productivity. Feed rates along the cutting path can be as high as 200 mm/s (450 in/min) for 6-mm (0.25-in) aluminium plate and 85 mm/s (200 in/min) for 6-mm (0.25-in) steel plate. Feed rates must be reduced for thicker stock.

Plasma cutting is by far the simplest and most economical way to cut a variety of metal shapes accurately. Because of their effectiveness, plasma cutters especially CNC Plasma Cutters threaten to obsolete a large number of conventional metal working tools.

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Emerging Technologies

Nanotechnology

Overview

In 1965, Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel Corporation, made the prediction that the number of transistors that could be fit in a given area would double every 18 months for the next ten years. This it did and the phenomenon became known as Moore's Law. This trend has continued far past the predicted 10 years until this day, going from just over 2000 transistors in the original 4004 processors of 1971 to over 700,000,000 transistors in the Core 2. There has, of course, been a corresponding decrease in the size of individual electronic elements, going from millimeters in the 60's to hundreds of nanometers in modern circuitry.

Nanotechnology is the study of the controlling of matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally nanotechnology deals with structures of the size 100 nanometers or smaller in at least one dimension, and involves developing materials or devices within that size. Nanotechnology is very diverse, ranging from extensions of conventional device physics to completely new approaches based upon molecular self-assembly, from developing new materials with dimensions on the nanoscale to investigating whether we can directly control matter on the atomic scale.There has been much debate on the future implications of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology has the potential to create many new materials and devices with a vast range of applications, such as in medicine, electronics and energy production. On the other hand, nanotechnology raises many of the same issues as with any introduction of new technology, including concerns about the toxicity and environmental impact of nanomaterials and their potential effects on global economics.

One nanometer (nm) is one billionth, or 10−9, of a meter. To put that scale in context, the comparative size of a nanometer to a meter is the same as that of a marble to the size of the earth. Or another way of putting it: a nanometer is the amount a man's beard grows in the time it takes him to raise the razor to his face.

Current Research

Nanomaterials - This includes subfields which develop or study materials having unique properties arising from their nanoscale dimensions.

Bottoms Down Approach - These seek to arrange smaller components into more complex assemblies.

Top Down Approaches - These seek to create smaller devices by using larger ones to direct their assembly.

. Application in Aerospace

Lighter and stronger materials will be of immense use to aircraft manufacturers, leading to increased performance. Spacecraft will also benefit, where weight is a major factor.

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Nanotechnology would help to reduce the size of equipment and thereby decrease fuel-consumption required to get it airborne.Hang gliders may be able to halve their weight while increasing their strength and toughness through the use of nanotech materials. Nanotech is lowering the mass of super capacitors that will increasingly be used to give power to assistive electrical motors for launching hang gliders off flatland to thermal-chasing altitudes.Robotics

Robotics is the engineering science and technology of robots, and their design, manufacture, application, and structural disposition.

Much of the research in robotics focuses not on specific industrial tasks, but on investigations into new types of robots, alternative ways to think about or design robots, and new ways to manufacture them but other investigations, such as MIT's cyberflora project, are almost

wholly academic.

To describe the level of advancement of a robot, the term "Generation Robots" can be used. This term is coined by Professor Hans Moravec, Principal Research Scientist at the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute in describing the near future evolution of robot technology. First generation robots, Moravec predicted in 1997, should have an intellectual capacity comparable to perhaps a lizard and should become available by 2010. Because the first generation robot would be incapable of learning, however, Moravec predicts that the second generation robot would be an improvement over the first and become available by 2020, with intelligence maybe comparable to that of a mouse. The third generation robot should have intelligence comparable to that of a monkey. Though fourth generation robots, robots with human intelligence, professor Moravec predicts, would become possible, he does not predict this happening before around 2040 or 2050.

Other Emerging Technologies

Emerging Technology   Status   Potentially Marginalized

Technologies  Potential Applications  

Artificial intelligence

Theory and experiments; limited application in specialized domains

Human decision, analysis, etc. Creation of intelligent devices

Machine translation

Prototyping and research

Human translation of natural languages, in areas where misunderstanding is non-critical and language is formalized

Easier cross-cultural communication

Machine vision Prototyping and research

biological vision, the visual perception of humans

Biometrics, Controlling processes (e.g. a driverless car, or an automated guided vehicle), detecting events (e.g. for visual surveillance), interaction (e.g. for human-computer interaction), robot vision

Quantum computing Theory and experiments Electronic computing, optical

computing

Much faster computing, for certain kinds of problems, chemical modelling, new materials with programmed properties, theory of high-temperature superconductivity and superfluidity

Phased array optics Theory Conventional display devices

(e.g., television) Mass production of 3-dimensional imagery

Holography Diffusion Display technologies3D printing In commercial Manual creation of prototypes Rapid prototyping and production of not only

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productionand also some mass production methods that lack the ability for customization

plastic objects but multi-material items, with the potential to significantly customize products for individual consumers

Thermal copper pillar bump

Working prototypes in discrete devices

Conventional thermal solutions, heat sinks, bulk thermo electrics

Electric circuit cooling; micro-fluidic actuators; small-device thermoelectric power generation

Immersive virtual reality

Theory, limited commercialization consensus reality

an artificial environment where the user feels just as immersed as they usually feel in consensus reality

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References & Bibliography

Internet

www.theiet.org + virtual libraries

www.flowcorp.comwww.wikipedia.comwww.mtu.dehttp://www.bullentech.com/ultrasonic-machiningwww.thelaseredge.co.ukwww.books24x7.comwww.sciencedirect.comhttp://robotic.media.mit.edu/projects/robots/cyberflora/video/video.htmlhttp://hughjack.com/index.html - Papers from Professor Jack Hugh

Books

Fundamentals of Modern Manufacturing: Materials, Processes, and Systems, Third Edition - by Mikell P. Groover

Other

AgustaWestland – Rapid Prototypes

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