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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Comparing The Feasibility Of Cutting Thin-Walled Sections From Five Commonly Used Metals Utilizing Wire Electric Discharge Machining, Richard C. Stephenson Jul 2007

Comparing The Feasibility Of Cutting Thin-Walled Sections From Five Commonly Used Metals Utilizing Wire Electric Discharge Machining, Richard C. Stephenson

Theses and Dissertations

Wire Electric Discharge Machining (wire-EDM) is a non-traditional machining process. Controlled electric sparks are successively used to vaporize part of a workpiece along a programmed path in order to machine a desired part. Because there is no tool that comes in direct contact with the workpiece, it is possible to machine thin, delicate parts. This thesis was designed to observe and analyze the differences in cutting capabilities for a conventional wire-EDM machine when cutting thin-walled sections from five commonly used metals utilizing a variation of roughing and finishing passes. The five metals that were used in this study are: Aluminum …


Friction Stir Welding Of High-Strength Automotive Steel, Eric Michael Olsen Jul 2007

Friction Stir Welding Of High-Strength Automotive Steel, Eric Michael Olsen

Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis is a study on the ability to create acceptable welds in thin-plate, ultra-high-strength steels (UHSS) by way of friction stir welding (FSW). Steels are welded together to create tailor-welded blanks (TWB) for use in the automotive industry. Dual Phase (DP) 590, 780, and 980 steel as well as Transformation-Induced Plasticity (TRIP) 590 steel with thicknesses ranging from 1.2 mm to 1.8 mm were welded using friction stir welding under a variety of processing conditions, including experiments with dissimilar thicknesses. Samples were tested under tensile loads for initial determination if an acceptable weld had been created. Acceptable welds …


Objective Test Methods For Waveguide Audio Synthesis, Steven Gregory Wood Mar 2007

Objective Test Methods For Waveguide Audio Synthesis, Steven Gregory Wood

Theses and Dissertations

Acoustic Physical Modeling has emerged as a newer musical synthesis technique. The most common form of physical modeling synthesis in both industry and academia is digital waveguide synthesis. Commercially available for the past thirteen years, the top synthesizer manufacturers have chosen to include physical modeling synthesis in their top of the line models. In the area of audio quality testing, the most common tests have traditionally been group listening tests. While these tests are subjective and can be expensive and time-consuming, the results are validated by the groups' proper quality standards. Research has been conducted to evaluate objective testing procedures …


An Evaluation Of American Companies That Outsource Manufacturing To China: Decision-Making And Performance, Michael Kenyon Favreau Mar 2007

An Evaluation Of American Companies That Outsource Manufacturing To China: Decision-Making And Performance, Michael Kenyon Favreau

Theses and Dissertations

The topic of outsourcing ranks at the top of business issues for a wide variety of companies (Wery, 2004; Ezrati, 2004). The majority of American companies believe that offshore-related matters rank as the most strategic decisions that management is expected to make in the next 12 months (Wery, 2004). “Outsourcing in China can help many companies save money, but it can be very frustrating if not done right" (Ting, 2004). The perceived benefits of outsourcing production to China are tremendously enticing, but a lack of understanding of the total costs involved lures many companies into outsourcing when it is not …


Lifetime Testing Of Wire-Grid Polarizers With Selected Over-Coatings, Steven J. Malone Mar 2007

Lifetime Testing Of Wire-Grid Polarizers With Selected Over-Coatings, Steven J. Malone

Theses and Dissertations

Wire-grid polarizers (WGPs) offer superior extinction, durability, angle of incidence, and heat resistance when compared to traditional organic polarizers. WGPs are found in applications such as high lumen lighting, laser devices, high lumen digital cinema projectors, LED packaging, and other integrated optical applications and are driving the need for over-coatings. Over-coating a WGP has been found to increase lifetime and durability. This research provides lifetime data on coated and uncoated WGPs. WGPs over-coated with 100nm of SiO2, 300nm of MgF2, and with no over-coating were heated to temperatures of 450 ºC, 500 ºC, and 550 ºC and timed until they …


A Qualitative Study Of Selected Quality Knowledge And Practices In Guangdong Province, China, Tyler R. Thomas Mar 2007

A Qualitative Study Of Selected Quality Knowledge And Practices In Guangdong Province, China, Tyler R. Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

The manufacturing industry has become very competitive in today's global market environment. Many US companies are faced with the choice of keeping their manufacturing domestic or looking to low cost off-shore countries to take advantage of the labor costs differences. To gain an understanding of the state of manufacturing in China, a major focus in the manufacturing world today, this thesis was undertaken. This thesis presents the findings of research conducted in Guangdong Province, China in June - July, 2005. This research addressed customer focus, leadership and general manufacturing and quality knowledge and practices of small, medium and large sized …


Spot Friction Welding Of Ultra High-Strength Automotive Sheet Steel, Jack H. Sederstrom Mar 2007

Spot Friction Welding Of Ultra High-Strength Automotive Sheet Steel, Jack H. Sederstrom

Theses and Dissertations

Spot friction welding (SFW) was performed on ultra high strength steel (UHSS) steel sheet commonly used in automobile manufacturing. Alloys studied included DP780, DP780EG, DP980, and DF140T sheet steel of varying thickness from 1.2 mm to 1.4 mm. Welding was accomplished using a PCBN standard tool. Weld strengths were then compared to a proposed AWS standard. Initial hardness readings were taken in cross sectioned samples. Grain structure in a SFW is presented. Resistance spot welds were created in three steels. This study focuses on the strength of SFW joints as compared to traditional resistance spot welding (RSW) in welding like …