PFI-BIC: Modulation-Assisted Machining

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This Partnership for Innovation project from Purdue University is aimed at fully enabling the commercial application of Modulation-Assisted Machining in the discrete products sector. By superimposing a low-frequency/small-amplitude modulation on the cutting tool, Modulation-Assisted Machining produces small, discrete chips, while dramatically reducing friction and energy dissipation in machining. The Modulation-Assisted Machining research platform will expand the range of application of this technology from the current stationary drilling configurations (developed and commercialized via prior NSF support) to a wide range of rotating tool applications in drilling, turning, boring, trepanning, and related processes. Benefits include greater than two-fold increases in production rate, and large reductions in tool wear and machining emissions. Equally important, the platform will provide for development of robust methods for effecting power transfer to rotating tools and machines in the discrete products manufacturing sector.The broader impacts of this research are higher productivity, improved product quality, greater use of higher performance alloys that cannot be manufactured economically by conventional machining, and major reductions in machining emissions with associated environmental benefits. These are a consequence of enabling the implementation of Modulation-Assisted Machining across high-performance machining applications. The platform will also offer new cost-effective routes for powder materials manufacturing, and improved cutting techniques for orthopedic surgery.Partners at the inception of the project are Purdue University (Schools of Industrial, Materials and Electrical & Computer Engineering), M4 Sciences LLC (West Lafayette, IN; Type II small business) and American Micro Products (Batavia, OH; Type I small business), all Knowledge Enhancement Partners; complemented by other partners: Cummins Inc. (Columbus, IN; large business), Seco Tools (Fagersta, Sweden; large business, now part of the Sandvik Corporation), Purdue College of Veterinary Medicine (part of Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN) and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY; non-profit).