Engineering Commons^™

Rc Baja Suspension And Steering, Garrett Bailey

All Undergraduate Projects

The RC Baja team set out to engineer and construct a working remote-control device that can compete in the ASME Baja Competition. The students have a focus on either suspension and steering or drivetrain and chassis. This report is centered on the suspension and steering. First, multiple analyses were completed using engineering methods such as mechanical design, statics, strengths of materials, and dynamics for parts of the device. The calculations found in the analysis are then used to create designs for the parts so that they will meet the requirements and be successful in the competition. After the parts are …

Characterization Of Aerosol Jet Printed Silver Thin Films Sintered By A Scanning Laser, William A. Metzger

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Direct write printing, which is part of additive manufacturing (AM) technology, offers unique capabilities that can complement traditional methods of electronics fabrication. Printing of electrical interconnects via aerosolization is one of the areas in AM that is very important in electronics fabrication. Post-print sintering is a critical step in printed electrical interconnects because it strongly influences the electrical resistivity of the interconnects. Interconnects require the lowest possible resistivity to achieve better performance. Thermal sintering is the most common technique employed in printed interconnects. However, it is limited to substrates that can handle the high temperature requirement for sintering. For polymers …

Processing And Characterization Of Inkjet Printed Batio3/Su-8 Nanocomposite Dielectrics, Mustapha A. Muhammad

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The persistent demand for flexible and wearable electronic components in healthcare, aerospace, media, and transit applications has led to a significant shift from traditional electronics processes to printed electronics. Printed electronics are anticipated to establish itself as the industry's dominant force due to their enhanced flexibility, rapid prototyping capabilities, and seamless integration with everyday objects. They are cost-effective and have the scalable option for large-scale production because additive manufacturing techniques are used. Among the various printing methods available, inkjet printing has recently gained popularity for printing electronics, especially capacitors that require precise and complex structures on different substrates. Inkjet printing …

Rheological Modeling And Inkjet Printability Of Electrode Ink Formulation For Miniature And Interdigital Lithium-Ion Batteries, Habib Temitope-Adebayo Ajose

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The rapid advancement of technology has resulted in a greater need for effective energy storage systems to meet the demands of the transportation and electronics industries. Among various energy storage systems, batteries are the most widely used, primarily because of their ability to store significant amounts of energy. In addition, lithium-ion batteries are prevalent for powering portable electronic devices due to their long cycle life, high energy density, and high operating voltage. The traditional doctor-blade approach has been used over the years for producing batteries. Currently, research is being directed to additively manufacture Li-ion batteries via Drop-on-Demand Inkjet Printing with …

Energy Dissipation In A Sand Damper Under Cyclic Loading, Ehab Sabi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Various seismic and wind engineering designs and retrofit strategies have been in development to meet structures' proper and safe operation during earthquake and wind excitation. One such method is the addition of fluid and particle dampers, such as sand dampers, in an effort to reduce excessive and dangerous displacements of structures. The present study implements the discrete element method (DEM) to assess the performance of a pressurized sand damper (PSD) and characterize the dissipated energy under cyclic loading. The idea of a PSD is to exploit the increase in shearing resistance of sand under external pressure and the associated ability …

Stability Analysis, Dynamic Modeling, And Kinematic Analysis Of Hydraulically Amplified Dielectric Elastomer Actuators And Robot Manipulators, Amir Hosein Zamanian

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we have proposed a new dielectric elastomer actuator design and model that couples electrostatics, fluid mechanics, linear and nonlinear elastic deformations. The internal hydraulic pressure can amplify the structural deformation generated by induced electrostatic forces (Maxwell pressure), given the name of this class of actuators, hydraulically amplified dielectric elastomer actuators (HADEAs).

First, we developed novel lumped-parameter models (LPMs) using linear and hyper-elastic material models and second compared the LPM results with finite element analysis in quasi-static simulations. We analytically expressed the conditions for the snap-through instability in the HADEA, which appears after exceeding a certain voltage applied …

The Thermal And Mechanical Characteristics Of Lithiated Peo Lagp Composite Electrolytes, Jacob Michael Denney

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Lithium-ion batteries are part of a multibillion-dollar industry that strives to meet the demands for an increasingly advanced technological future. Flexible batteries can be easily adapted from emerging novel wearable electronics to electrical vehicles and advanced solar panels. Solid-state batteries can greatly reduce the risk of fire or leaking hazardous materials due to puncture. For the development of solid-state flexible lithium based batteries polymer-ceramic composites are attractive electrolyte candidates because of their combined properties, such as electrical, thermal and mechanical properties, that not only overcome limitations from the base materials but may also render some enhanced performances resulting from the …

Investigation Of Fundamental Principles Of Rigid Body Impact Mechanics, Khalid Alluhydan

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

In impact mechanics, the collision between two or more bodies is a common, yet a very challenging problem. Producing analytical solutions that can predict the post-collision motion of the colliding bodies require consistent modeling of the dynamics of the colliding bodies. This dissertation presents a new method for solving the two and multibody impact problems that can be used to predict the post-collision motion of the colliding bodies. Also, we solve the rigid body collision problem of planar kinematic chains with multiple contacts with external surfaces.

In the first part of this dissertation, we study planar collisions of Balls and …

Design And Control Of Fiber Encapsulation Additive Manufacturing, Matt Saari

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

This work presents the design, development, and analysis of the Fiber Encapsulation Additive Manufacturing (FEAM) system developed at the Laboratory for Additive Manufacturing Robotics \& Automation at the Lyle School of Engineering at Southern Methodist University. The innovation introduced by FEAM is the ability to insert a continuous fiber of different material into the flowing extrudate. Correctly positioning the fiber feed inside the extrudate while turning the fiber in arbitrary directions is a critical aspect of the technology. This will allow for the full exploitation of the capabilities of the FEAM technology to produce robotic components that actuate and sense. …

Preparation And Characterization Of Porous Pdms For Printed Electronics, Eyad Khalid M. Balbaid

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Fabricating an elastomeric substrate with internal features could provide a novel structure with distinctive mechanical properties that allow them to stretch, bend and absorb the impact force. To date, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is a great candidate as a substrate for flexible electronic applications, due to easy fabrication, high stability and low cost. In the current thesis, porous PDMS samples are fabricated and characterized based on the particle size and the fusion of salt and sugar treated micro-regions. The liquid PDMS is prepared by mixing the silicon elastomer base (Sylgard 184) and elastomer curing agent using volume ration 10:1. The salt and …

Microstructural Characterization Of LensTm Ti-6al-4v: Investigating The Effects Of Process Variables Across Multiple Deposit Geometries, Laura Christine Davidson

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Laser based additive manufacturing of Ti-6Al-4V components is under consideration for aerospace applications. The mechanical properties of the finished components depend on their microstructure. Process mapping compares process variables such as heat source power, heat source travel speed, material feed rate, part preheat temperature and feature geometry to process outcomes such as microstructure, melt pool geometry and residual stresses. In this work, the microstructure of two-dimensional pads, multilayer pads, thin walls, and structural components at the steady state location was observed. A method for measuring β grain widths that allows for the calculation of standard deviations, confidence intervals, and variances …

Lightweight Uav Launcher, Ben Miller, Christian Valoria, Corinne Warnock, Jake Coutlee

Mechanical Engineering

This report discusses the design, construction, and testing of a lightweight, portable UAV launcher. There is a current need for a small team of soldiers to launch a US Marine Tier II UAV in a remote location without transport. Research was conducted into existing UAV launcher designs and the pros and cons of each were recorded. This research served as a basis for concept generation during the initial design development stage. It was required that the design weigh less than 110 lbs, occupy a smaller volume than 48" x 24" 18" in its collapsed state, be portable by a single …