CAREER: Optimization and Control of Metalworking Fluids in Environmentally Benign Manufacturing Systems

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This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant provides funding for the development of a research and education program in environmentally benign design and manufacturing (EBDM). The EBDM research program will be focused on developing environmentally benign metalworking fluid systems. Metalworking fluids (MWFs) are ubiquitous in manufacturing, comprise a major percentage of process costs, and contain significant environmental and health hazards. This funding supports a major new initiative to eliminate these liabilities by researching the relationships between MWF chemistry, machining performance, system economics, and the effectiveness of state of the art MWF re-use technology. These relationships will be researched in four phases: (1) physicochemical characteristics of MWFs will be classified based on their ability to affect machining performance; (2) optimal MWF application rates will be established; (3) the fundamental mechanisms of MWF deterioration will be determined; and (4) the effectiveness of re-use technologies in addressing MWF deterioration mechanisms and health hazards will be modeled. The knowledge generated by these research tasks will be fully integrated into tangible process planning, monitoring, and control technologies that will achieve cost-effective and environmentally benign MWF systems.The educational component of this program will focus on outreach and transfer of EBDM strategies to manufacturing stakeholders. This includes transfer of advanced research in environmental product design and manufacturing, as well as basic education regarding how to achieve simultaneous improvement of economic and environmental performance. The EBDM education program will engage a diversity of stakeholders, including university students, practicing engineers, and governmental providers of technical assistance. At the university level, several original curriculum elements will be developed, including two EBDM courses, two web-based EBDM educational tools, and a modular EBDM sequence for undergraduate design and manufacturing programs. The Environmental and Sustainable Technology Research and Teaching Laboratory (EAST RTL) will be established to facilitate the integration of EBDM research and education, and will be exclusively dedicated to furthering the integration of manufacturing and environmental technologies.