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MANUFACTURING MACHINES AND EQUIPMENT (MME)
Dr. George A. Hazelrigg, Program Director
Phone: (703) 292-7068
Veronica T. Calvo, Program Technology Specialist
Phone: (703) 292-7056 |
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The
MME program addresses issues and challenges relating to the fundamental
knowledge base for the design, deployment, operation, maintenance, disposal
and re-use of all machines and equipment that relate directly to the production
of discrete parts and their assembly into products. Modern manufacturing
is driven by economic factors, mainly the need to generate a profit in
a highly competitive environment, and by social pressures, especially
the need to minimize the environmental impact of manufacturing operations.
New and emerging materials, which can be highly beneficial to advanced
products, create a strong incentive to find effective fabrication technologies
to enable their use. New products, such as engineered human tissue,
place demands on the fabrication of new structures whose fabrication can
be exceedingly difficult. Further, with the emergence of high-speed
digital computation, manufacturing has been undergoing a transition from
a skill-based activity to a knowledge and information-based activity. This transition has been accompanied by a continuing reduction in the
skilled manufacturing labor force, which is compensated by emerging, knowledge-based
manufacturing machines.
The
MME program supports research on fundamental issues that relate to the
advancement of manufacturing machines and equipment, and their use.
Topics that are supported include the following:
Material
removal – Traditional parts manufacture has been mainly a process
of material removal. Yet our fundamental understanding of material
removal is weak. We need to better understand the cutting process,
the disposition and removal of heat during the cutting process, the cutting
of hard materials, the cutting of materials that are highly reactive chemically,
the minimization of damage and material transformation during the cutting
process, the role of lubrication during cutting and its alternatives,
the onset of chatter and its control during cutting, and the process-material
interaction, that is, the impact of cutting on surface integrity including
surface topography and sub-surface damage, microcracks and diffusion of
tool material into the work piece. Support is provided for research
that can provide fundamental understanding and prediction in these areas.
Material
addition – Additive manufacturing processes are emerging as an
alternative to material removal. Additive manufacturing holds potential
for enabling the fabrication of parts with gradient and functionally designed
materials, the fabrication of parts that are difficult or impossible to
fabricate using only material removal processes, and more rapid production
of test and prototype parts. Support is provided for research leading
to the development of new additive processes and to better and more predictive
application of extant processes.
Sensing
and control – There is often the opportunity for modern manufacturing
machines and equipment to make use sensing and control for improved performance.
Sensing can include heat generation and removal monitoring, monitoring
forces during cutting processes, detection of the onset of chatter, and
a variety of environmental parameters. There is also an opportunity
for the use of information from broader sources, such as overall demand
on the production system, buffer queues, and supply chain information
to beneficially influence the control of manufacturing machines.
Support is provided for research leading to new sensors for manufacturing,
for the design of new machines that incorporate advanced sensing and control,
and for new control algorithms that enhance the operation of manufacturing
machines and equipment.
Planning
and optimization – Machines alone do not make efficient manufacturing.
Their use and operation must be properly planned and optimized.
This includes feed rates, cutting forces, tool paths, fixturing, and overall
machine and equipment utilization. Support is provided for research
leading to more efficient and more effective utilization of manufacturing
machines and equipment.
Metrology
– Measurement is key to machine tool calibration and part inspection.
New machines and new processes, such as additive processes, gradient materials
and reduced tolerances place increasing demands on metrology. Support
is provided for new approaches to metrology and for new measurement machines.
Machine
design – New manufacturing processes and the demand for higher
productivity argue for new manufacturing machines. This includes
machines for additive manufacturing processes, as well as machines for
more conventional manufacturing activities such as parts feeding, tool
transport and assembly. Support is provided for research leading
to manufacturing machines that enable new manufacturing functionality,
that enable new manufacturing processes, and that provide a better understanding
of the fundamental principles and theory of machine design.
Suggested
research topics: Research proposals addressing any of the
above issues or other fundamental issues in manufacturing machines and
equipment are welcome. Priority will be given to approaches that
apply rigorous scientific and mathematical principles and that make fundamental
contributions to the science and engineering of manufacturing machines
and equipment and that have broad applicability. Proposals must
offer innovative research components in order to qualify for funding.
Small
group proposals: Proposals from small, multi-disciplinary
groups are encouraged. A broad disciplinary base is sought, bringing
expertise from engineering, physics, mathematics, and the social sciences
to bear on issues in manufacturing machines and equipment. A goal
of this program is to merge the theories of this field with those of other
fields to gain a broader range of consistency in the theoretical base
for manufacture. Investigators planning to submit a small group
proposal must contact the Program Director and discuss their ideas
in advance of their proposal submission.
Proposal
submission: All guidelines of the current Grant Proposal
Guide, available on the NSF web site, will apply to unsolicited proposals.
Pay particular attention to the margins, font size and page limitations.
The minimum suggested font size is 12 point. Smaller font sizes
make reading difficult and generally result in lower ratings. Be
sure all type on figures is legible. All proposals that have a Project
Description section that exceeds 15 pages will be returned without review.
No exceptions! Also note the requirements to explicitly address
both review criteria in both the Summary and the Project Description portions
of the proposal. All proposals that do not explicitly address both
review criteria in the Summary and Project Description sections will be
returned without review.
References
and links:
National Institute
of Standards & Technology (NIST)
Sandia National Laboratories
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
National Center for Manufacturing Sciences
(NCMS)
American Society of Manufacturing Engineers
(ASME)
Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE)
Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME)
Association for Manufacturing Technology
(AMT)
International Technology Research
Institute (ITRI) at Loyola College
College International
pour l'Etude Scientifique des Techniques de Production Mecanique (CIRP)
- International Institution for Production Engineering Research |