SGER: Development of a Multi-Scale Manufacturing Teaching Laboratory

这项探索性研究小额资助（SGER）项目将在普渡大学的机械工程课程中引入多尺度制造教育，以解决研究和工业企业当前和未来的关键需求。传统的制造是在宏观的长度尺度上进行的，使用铣刀、车床和快速成型（分层制造）工具。在未来，机械部件将越来越多地在微米和最终纳米尺度上制造。因此，21世纪的机械工程师必须在硅和非硅材料的微加工和纳米加工方面获得额外的经验。为了实现这一目标，将建立一个联合教学实验室-学生车间，以支持小型制造，同时建立一个完善的学生机械车间，在那里，传统制造方法的教学将继续进行。新的实验室设施，多尺度制造中心（MMC）试点设施，将解决所有主要的微加工工艺，重点是“软光刻”，并将隶属于普渡大学的ME学生机械车间，该车间已经支持服务学习计划，国家学生汽车项目和许多其他学生活动。因此，它将支持教育和研究的双重用途，因为研究生和本科生除了预定的课程外，还会经常使用这些设施进行研究项目。这一努力将对普渡大学乃至整个国家产生巨大而广泛的影响。这一种子努力将开启普渡大学制造业机械工程课程改革计划的初始阶段。最终，将在2005年开始的建筑扩建工程中建立一个新的MMC设施。一旦实施，该设施将使每个ME本科生（每班约250人）在学习期间使用该设施十几次以上。在全国范围内，我们期望所提出的工作将成为在全国范围内建立多规模制造教育实验室的典范。认识到工程部门在实施基于实验室的课程改革方面的共同惯性，我们期望免费分发实验室手册、指南和小册子，在著名研讨会和会议上的演讲，以及未来联邦资助此类改革的机会，将促进所提议的研究成果的全部或部分采用。

This Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) project will introduce multi-scale manufacturing education into the mechanical engineering curriculum at Purdue to address critical current and future needs of research and industrial enterprise. Traditional manufacturing occurs at macroscopic length scales using mills, lathes, and rapid prototyping (layered manufacturing) tools. In the future, mechanical components will be increasingly created at the micrometer and eventually nanometer length scales. Thus, mechanical engineers of the 21st century must gain additional experience in microfabrication and nanofabrication of silicon and non-silicon materials. To accomplish this objective, a combined teaching lab - student shop will be established to support small-scale fabrication in conjunction with a well-established student machine shop, where instruction in traditional manufacturing methods will continue. The new laboratory facility, the Multi-scale Manufacturing Center (MMC) Pilot Facility, will address all major microfabrication processes, with a focus on "soft lithography," and will be affiliated with Purdue's ME Student Machine Shop, which already supports service-learning initiatives, national student car projects, and numerous other student activities. As such, it will support dual use for education and research, because both graduate and undergraduate students will routinely use these facilities for research projects in addition to scheduled classes. The effort will have tremendously broad impact, both at Purdue and throughout the country. This seed effort will begin the initial phase of a planned reformation of the ME curriculum in manufacturing at Purdue. Ultimately, a new MMC facility will be established in a building expansion project scheduled for initiation in 2005. When implemented, this facility will enable each ME undergraduate (approximately 250/class) to use the facility more than a dozen times during their studies. At the national scale, we expect that the proposed work will serve as a model for establishment of multi-scale manufacturing educational laboratories throughout the country. Recognizing a common inertia among engineering departments in implementing lab-based curriculum reforms, we anticipate that the free dissemination of laboratory manuals, guides, and brochures, presentations at prominent workshops and conferences, and future opportunities for federal funding of such reforms will facilitate adoption, either fully or partially, of the products of the proposed research.