GOALI/Collaborative Research: Microforming Processes - Fundamental Studies and Developments

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The objective of this collaborative research is to enhance the scientific knowledge of material properties, modeling, and manufacturing at the scale of a few millimeters to several microns in size. The results of this project will be a viable micro-forming process. The approach will combined fundamental and applied research with respect to physical interactions between workpiece and tool, processing parameters, and scaling effects of material properties, which prevent optimized macro-forming processes to be simply miniaturized to components on the micro/meso-scale. This knowledge will then be applied to devise a micro-forming process that will produce more accurate parts faster, for less cost, and with higher aspect ratios. The research results will be validated through extensive material testing, micro-forming system testing, and comparisons between the numerical simulation and experimental results. The knowledge gained through this research at the micro/meso-scale will lead to an effective and efficient micro-forming process. The implementation of such a micro-manufacturing process will lead to further micro-components and systems for biomedical, telecommunication, and environmental monitoring applications, which will benefit society as a whole. Also, the findings will be incorporated into university courses and disseminated through seminars, short courses, journal articles and the internet, which will contribute to the micro/meso-scale knowledge base. Finally, the undergraduate and graduate students involved with the research will benefit from the interactions amongst the academic (U New Hampshire, Northwestern U) and industry (Alcoa, GOALI partner) collaborators on this interdisciplinary project.