Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Preliminary Investigation Into The Cause Of Pinhole Porosity In Aluminum Metal Castings From Serpentine Impurities In Olivine Sand, Brodie J. Biersner

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The problem addressed in this study is how contaminates in the foundry molding aggregate olivine, affect aluminum castings during the casting process. This research will concentrate on hydrated contaminates, specifically the mineral serpentine. The purpose of this research is to better understand how hydrated minerals contribute to the generation of pinhole porosity defects during the casting process. Understanding how impurities in foundry aggregates affect the casting process would aid in the reduction of scrap caused by core and molding sands, ultimately providing savings to the casting manufacturer.

A foundry grade olivine was compared to a new source of olivine to …

Dissolution Rate And Mechanism Of Metals In Molten Aluminum Alloy A380, Hengyu Zhu

Open Access Theses

Shot sleeve is a very easily worn out part in a high-pressure die-casting machine due to serious dissolution of the area underneath the pouring hole. It is because during a normal pouring process, the high temperature molten aluminum will impact and dissolve that area of the shot sleeve by complex chemical and physical process. Rotation experiment was carried out to H13 and four kinds of refractory metal samples. SEM and EDS pictures were taken in order to investigate the microstructure and the dissolution mechanism of these materials. This suggests a high strength niobium is an ideal material for that area …

Use Of Polymer Rapid Tools As Functional Injection Mold Tooling, Sean Derrick

Masters Theses

Conventional tool making for injection molded plastics is expensive, time consuming, and generates a great deal of waste. Presently, industry is waiting for what is commonly referred to as Rapid Tooling (RT). The greatest opportunity for RT implementation would be the use of Additively Manufacturing (AM) technology. Specifically, AM techniques which use a high strength polymer resin substrate.

The following research is an initial feasibility study to determine if Polymer Rapid Tools (PRTs) could be used as functional injection mold tooling. The objective of the research was to determine if a PRT could mold a variety of features to a …

Pulsed Laser Coating Of Bioceramic (Hap) And Niti Nanoparticles On Metallic Implants, Aayush Goswami, Gary J. Cheng

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

This research deals with increasing the biocompatibility of the bio implants which have a global market valued more than $94.1 billion . The surface of the metal alloys used for the bone implants need to be coated with bio compatible materials like HAp(Hydroxyapatite), graphene, etc. in order to promote the growth of cells(osteoblasts) on the surface of the implants. Various techniques like plasma spray coating, ion beam sputter coating, etc. have been used before to coat such materials on a substrate, however these have faced problems of coating quality. In order to perfect this coating, that is make it more …

Low Volume Dispensing With High Speed Dispensers, Sunny Agarwal

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

With the high pace of innovation in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, there has been an increasing demand for more energy efficient and environmental friendly products. This research relates to a complex process of fluid dispensing at low volumes on a printed circuit board. Currently, a more refined non-contact dispensing terminology named “Streaming” is widely used to stream out material at low volumes for various applications. The key solution is to frame a dispensing method that lends itself most closely to the requirements of a specific production process.

This study represents a detailed approach of dispensing low volumes of materials in …

Lunalight - Bringing Light To The Expanding World, Gabriela M. Igel, Daniel J. Patrick, Kimberley M. Smith

Materials Engineering

The LunaLight, a solar rechargeable light and cell phone charger, addresses the lack of access to electricity faced by 1.4 billion of the world’s population (International Finance Corporation). The LunaTech team has developed a product that is bright, simple, compact, versatile and competitive with existing products. Through a partnership with the non-profit organization One Million Lights, LunaTech has improved a previous team’s design to address user feedback, concerns of durability, and manufacturability.

The LunaLight design includes a 5 component plastic housing held together by 4 screws, a surface mounted PCB, a lithium-ion (Li-Ion) battery, one high-brightness LED, a solar panel, …

High Speed Turning Of Compacted Graphite Iron (Cgi) Using Controlled Modulation, Tyler Paul Stalbaum

Open Access Theses

Compacted graphite iron (CGI) is a material which emerged as a candidate material to replace cast iron (CI) in the automotive industry for engine block castings. Its thermal and mechanical properties allow the CGI-based engines to operate at higher cylinder pressures and temperatures than CI-based engines, allowing for lower fuel emissions and increased fuel economy. However, these same properties together with the thermomechanical wear mode in the CGI-CBN system result in poor machinability and inhibit CGI from seeing wide spread use in the automotive industry.

In industry, machining of CGI is done only at low speeds, less than V = …

Introducing Fly Ash Into Lsi's Recipe, Andrew Mathias Beckrich

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

There has been published data that states that concrete producers can use Fly Ash as an alternative to Portland cement and still generate similar or better strength properties. By applying these principles to our industry and products, what new processes will need to be put in place and followed? What is the correct combination/portion of Fly Ash that will produce similar and better results as well as the adjusted new recipes? What type of cost is associated with the introduction of this new ingredient? Lastly, how does this affect the quality and reputation of the product?

Investigation Into The Usability Of Micromechanical Models To Predict The Behavior Of A Nanocomposite Polymer, Jason Handlogten

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this thesis was to determine the acceptability of a set of existing nanocomposite test specimens for tensile testing and then to determine the Young's and shear modulus of these test specimens. If the test specimens were found to be acceptable, the accuracy of three micromechanical models was to be evaluated by comparing their predictions to the mechanical properties determined from testing the specimens. The set of existing nanocomposite test specimens had a distinct concave shape on two surfaces that were believed to be intended as flat. In order to determine if they adhered to the Type I …

Flexi-Focus Lens: Pdms Variable Focal Length Lens, Patrick Angulo, Alex Doyle, Dylan Mcdaniel, Michael Olivarez

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The design of a variable focal length, or flexi-focus, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) lens incorporating a light emitting diode (LED) source is intended for future use on board commercial aircraft. Specifically, the design is intended for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, serving as a personal reading light for the passengers seated in the cabin. Most current reading lights on board aircraft are rigid, incandescent, and have very limited freedom in terms of adjusting the emitted light. Incandescent lamps are also inefficient with respect to energy consumption and light output as well as a high heat output. In an economy of increasing demand …

Migration Models - Comparison Of Pvc, Pet And Pla Diffusivity, Combined With A Production Cost Model For Westridge Laboratories, Shelley Cooke, Sarina Surrette

Materials Engineering

This project has two parts: [1] a migration and diffusivity model for candidate plastics used in containers, and [2] a product cost model for Westridge Laboratories (Santa Ana, CA).

Diffusion modeling is a useful tool to predict migration of polymer constituents into exposed liquids.  Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polylactic acid (PLA) were studied to estimate production costs, and component migration into water-based liquids from plastic containers.  Bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), antimony trioxide, and stannous octoate, are components of concern in the three candidate polymers, respectively.  Normal detection limits for these constituents are about 1 - 10 ppb, …

Polyenvi, Stephen Beard, Josh Engel, Paul Fake, Diego Flores, Alvaro Nunez, Miguel Wong

Electrical Engineering

Poor indoor air quality is a problem that is recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to cause health issues. In order to raise awareness of this problem, this document outlines the construction of a device that economically measures air quality through five metrics: dust, smoke, ozone, humidity, and temperature. The device integrates with a router to provide users access to information about their indoor air quality anywhere over the internet as well as local access to the data via an LCD mounted on the router. By increasing indoor air quality awareness, this device will aid users in making adjustments …

Gerber Project For Lockheed Martin, Andrew Callahan, Sean Lawyer

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Lockheed Martin, the world’s premier aerial combat vehicle manufacturer was pressed to find an eco-friendly way to package their impregnated epoxy. In the current system, the epoxy would be cut on the Gerber table to a pre-determined length and then sandwiched inside of two corrugated fiberboard sheets for storage inside of a freezer. The current process was not only labor intensive, but the corrugated fiberboard had to be disregarded after one use. In conjunction with the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Packaging program and Melmat Incorporated, we were able to find a corrugated plastic substrate to replace the currently non-reusable …

Simpler Packaging, Tomiko Oden

Graphic Communication

This project explains how product packaging is become more "green", and thus more simple. Packaging needs to go beyond just simplifying materials and graphics - it needs to create a simpler process in order to reduce wasted time, energy, and resources.

The Effects Of Build Orientation, Diameter And Printhead Life On The Cylindricity Of Three-Dimensionally Printed Parts, Troy E. Ollison

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rapid prototyping (RP) technologies have become more than just a fast and inexpensive way to produce prototypes. Today RP is widely used to produce functional prototypes, end-use parts and tooling as well as visual prototypes. When RP is used for end-use parts with interconnected moving assemblies or for producing metal casting molds which must have sufficient material for machining tolerances, accuracy is very critical. However, in general, accuracy of the finished RP parts is relatively low lll compared to parts produced by traditional manufacturing processes. The understanding of why some of these accuracy differences exist is either unknown or not …

An Experimental Evaluation Of Performance Variance For Internally Threaded Geometry Related To Extended Tap Wear In Low Carbon Steel, Todd E. Alberts

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The development of internal threads in a manufactured part is in many cases one of the final operations in the production workflow. Quality issues in thread form development can destroy a part that has previously undergone expensive machining. The issue of tap wear is one of the multi-faceted elements that have a direct correlation on the quality of threaded components. The purpose of this research centers on resultant mechanical pull performance for the stripping of internally threaded geometry in low carbon steel as measured over various increments of the tap cutting life cycle.

Support For A Delivery Train Based Material Handling Mechanism, Sai P. Boyedapu

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Modeling a delivery train system is more challenging than traditional forklift systems as the delivery train model consists of a tugger, cart and a controller that combine to deliver materials within a manufacturing plant. Also, the decision logic for selection of carts and tuggers, joining of loads to particular delivery trains is more complicated than forklift systems. Simulation software such as Arena, Automod and Flexsim do not provide direct support for modeling delivery train systems.

In this thesis, an object-oriented, platform and language independent model of a delivery train was designed. The model was then implemented as an extension to …

Application Of Vibrational Techniques In Determination Of Dynamic Properties Of Agricultural Products-State Of The Arton Of Vibrational Techniques In Determination Of Dynamic Properties Of Agricultural Products-State Of The Art, Silas Kajuna

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Vibration is one of the techniques employed in the determination of dynamic properties of fruits and vegetables. It entails generation of a mechanical or acoustic vibrational signal which is propagated through the flesh of the agricultural material. A transducer is either attached or held close to the specimen to monitor the propagation of the signal through the specimen. The manner in which the signal is transmitted through the material is analyzed, and the dynamic properties of the specimen which relate to its firmness or its internal being are derived. The technique has been around for the past 30 years or …

Development Of A Method For Determining The Relative Manufacturing Complexity Of Advanced Engineering Materials, Shardul Y. Pandya

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The immediate adaptation of newly developed materials--with unique and highly desirable properties--is hampered by several factors, including: (1) high material cost and limited availability, (2) lack of information on them, including prior experience in their design and manufacture, immature manufacturing processes and general uncertainty in their behavior patterns, (3) unique handling issues, such as excessive manual labor, high process temperatures, toxicity, disposal problems, limited working lives, and low damage tolerance

Therefore, in spite of their significant benefits, potential users tend to shy away from the widespread use of new materials, instead preferring conventional and tested materials forms.

This dissertation is …

The Effects Of Post Inoculant Additions On Ductile Iron Fade, Travis James Frush

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study involved the investigation of three specific, commercially available, post inoculants for ductile iron and their effect on the magnesium fading rate and chill reducing tendency in a low volume production environment. Although fading effects of ductile iron have been extensively investigated, in general, they apply to high volume production operations. Unfortunately, for the smaller foundry operations, many of the process solutions proposed for the prevention of the fading effects are not applicable or practical. In addition to the small production operations, new process technologies are also excluded from many of these process solutions. For this reason, a study …

Development Of An Automated Ultrasonic Inspection Cell For Detecting Subsurface Discontinuities In Cast Iron, John Scott Burningham

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Manufacturing of value added products by companies in todays global marketplace requires the vendors to meet certain minimum standards, SAE, ASTM, ISO, etc. In a global economy, as a manufacturer for the year 2000 and beyond, preferred vendors will become ISO 9000 certified to maintain a market share of produced goods.

An automated inspection cell was developed for the inspection of cast iron ports to detect subsurface discontinuities. The cell consists of an ultrasonic flaw detector (UFD), transducer, robot, immersion tank, computer, and software. Normal beam pulse-echo ultrasonic nondestructive testing is performed on each rough casting.

Using test blocks and …

An Automatic Rinse Tank Controller For Industrial Applications, Aliasghar Emami

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis describes an automatic Rinse Tank Control System used in detection and removal of contaminating agents from industrial plating rinse tanks. It automatically monitors the purity of the rinse water in sixteen separate rinse tanks, and permits fresh water to enter the tanks only when the conductivity of the rinse water in each tank exceeds a predetermined level. Its use will result in large savings in consumption of fresh water and the subsequent reduction in discharge of effluent to the treatment plants.