Industrial Technology Commons^™

Autonomous Experimentation For Accelerated Calibration Of Fused Deposition Modeling 3d Printers, Graig S. Ganitano

Theses and Dissertations

Additive Manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, has emerged as a key component of Industry 4.0, enabling reduced cost, quick production, greater sustainability, and increased design complexity compared to its traditional manufacturing counterpart. Currently, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology dominates the AM market with respect to the number of 3D printers in use. However, the FDM process is sensitive to changes in system configuration, especially the feedstock material. Utilizing a new feedstock requires a time-consuming trial-and-error process to identify optimal settings for a large number of process parameters, acting as a barrier to the technology.

To enable greater accessibility …

Ai Methods For Identifying Process Defects In Advanced Manufacturing With Rare Labeled Data, Ayantha Umesh Senanayaka Mudiyanselage

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to provide efficient process defect identification methods for advanced manufacturing environments using AI tools/algorithms with limited labeled data availability. Asset and equipment quality become highly sensitive in sustaining virtuous performance and safety in various manufacturing domains. Internally generated process imperfections degrade finished products' optimum performance and mechanical attributes. The evolution of big data and intelligent sensing systems leverage data-driven defect identification in advanced manufacturing environments. Widely adopted data-driven process anomaly detection methods assume that the training (source) and testing (target) data follow the same distribution and that labeled data are available in both source and target domains. …

Developing Systems Engineering And Machine Learning Frameworks For The Improvement Of Aviation Maintenance, Fatine Elakramine

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation develops systems engineering and machine learning models for aviation maintenance support. With the constant increase in demand for air travel, aviation organizations compete to maintain airworthy aircraft to ensure the safety of passengers. Given the importance of aircraft safety, the aviation sector constantly needs technologies to enhance the maintenance experience, ensure system safety, and limit aircraft downtime. Based on the current literature, the aviation maintenance sector still relies on outdated technologies to maintain aircraft maintenance documentation, including paper-based technical orders. Aviation maintenance documentation contains a mixture of structured and unstructured technical text, mainly inputted by operators, making them …

Fast And Accurate 3d Object Reconstruction For Cargo Load Planning, Adam R. Nasi

Theses and Dissertations

Cargo load planning involves efficiently packing objects into aircraft subject to constraints such as space and weight distribution. Currently, this is performed manually by loadmasters. The United States Air Force is investigating ways to automate this process in order to improve airlift operational readiness while saving money. The first step in such a process would be generating 3D reconstructions of cargo objects to be used by a load planning algorithm. To that end, this thesis presents a novel method for fast, scaled, and accurate 3D reconstruction of cargo objects. This method can scan a 2.5m×3m×2m object in less than 10 …

Automated Registration Of Titanium Metal Imaging Of Aircraft Components Using Deep Learning Techniques, Nathan A. Johnston

Theses and Dissertations

Studies have shown a connection between early catastrophic engine failures with microtexture regions (MTRs) of a specific size and orientation on the titanium metal engine components. The MTRs can be identified through the use of Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) however doing so is costly and requires destruction of the metal component being tested. A new methodology of characterizing MTRs is needed to properly evaluate the reliability of engine components on live aircraft. The Air Force Research Lab Materials Directorate (AFRL/RX) proposed a solution of supplementing EBSD with two non-destructive modalities, Eddy Current Testing (ECT) and Scanning Acoustic Microscopy (SAM). Doing …

3d Printing For Solving Part Obscolescence, Ayman G. Alqarni

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to highlight the issue of parts obsolescence and to highlight the possibility of using alternative methods to overcome parts shortage. Specifically, this thesis sought to answer the research question: is the three-dimensional printing technology (3D) an applicable approach to overcome part obsolescence. The research question was answered through data research and survey analysis. Notwithstanding, the diminished manufacturing sources and material shortages (DMSMS) management and other existing approaches, such as forecasting, contracting, and reverse engineering (RE), were discussed briefly in the literature review and profoundly in chapter IV to differentiate among applicable existing solutions toward …

Viability Of Augmented Reality For Machine Maintenance, Wesley Robert Ferguson

Theses and Dissertations

Augmented reality has come a long way in the past decades in the manner of reduced costs and increased reliability. Despite these developments, there is still a difficulty bridging the gap between practical use and pure theory. This work explores if the current state of augmented reality is at a stage that can be utilized to implement solutions for heavy machinery maintenance routines by exploring the quality of education from augmented reality applications, capturing said maintenance routines for our own system, then replicating them in an augmented reality application with consumer grade equipment.

A Comparison Of Sbir Investment Methods: Afwerx Vs Legacy, Evan A. Gist

Theses and Dissertations

The AFWERX Open Topic (AOT) program uses funding from the United States Air Force’s (USAF) Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) budget to adapt commercial technology to USAF needs. The AOT approach to small business investment is markedly different from that of legacy SBIR investment methods. This research is a comparison of processes and outcomes for AOT and legacy SBIR. The first axis of comparison is on commercialization rates. Applying a legacy definition of commercialization on a sample of AOT contracts, we found AOT’s commercialization to be 37% (compared to an 8.8% for legacy SBIR). We caveat this finding by …

Conduction Mapping For Quality Control Of Laser Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing, Chance M. Baxter

Theses and Dissertations

A process was developed to identify potential defects in previous layers of Selective Laser Melting (SLM) Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) 3D printed metal parts using a mid-IR thermal camera to track infrared 3.8-4 m band emission over time as the part cooled to ambient temperature. Efforts focused on identifying anomalies in thermal conduction. To simplify the approach and reduce the need for significant computation, no attempts were made to calibrate measured intensity, extract surface temperature, apply machine learning, or compare measured cool-down behavior to computer model predictions. Raw intensity cool-down curves were fit to a simplified functional form designed to …

Evaluating The Resiliency Of Industrial Internet Of Things Process Control Using Protocol Agnostic Attacks, Hector L. Roldan

Theses and Dissertations

Improving and defending our nation's critical infrastructure has been a challenge for quite some time. A malfunctioning or stoppage of any one of these systems could result in hazardous conditions on its supporting populace leading to widespread damage, injury, and even death. The protection of such systems has been mandated by the Office of the President of the United States of America in Presidential Policy Directive Order 21. Current research now focuses on securing and improving the management and efficiency of Industrial Control Systems (ICS). IIoT promises a solution in enhancement of efficiency in ICS. However, the presence of IIoT …

Material Interactions And Self-Assembly In Inkjet Printing, Karam Nashwan Al-Milaji

Theses and Dissertations

Inkjet printing has attracted much attention in recent years as a versatile manufacturing tool, suitable for printing functional materials. This facile, low-cost printing technique with high throughput and accuracy is considered promising for a wide range of applications including but not limited to optical and electronic devices, sensors, solar cells, biochips, and displays. The performance of such functional devices is significantly influenced by the deposit morphology and printing resolution. Therefore, fabrication functional devices with precise footprints by inkjet printing requires deep understanding of ink properties, material interactions, and material self-assembly.

In conventional inkjet printing process, where sessile droplets are directly …

A System Dynamics Innovation Diffusion Model Applied To Carbon Nanotube Manufacturing, Frances G. Mackinnon

Theses and Dissertations

The transition of advanced technologies from their nascent state to viable commercial entities is a critical step in assuring the United States' national technological superiority and support is often required to incubate such technological developments. We propose a spiral development to investigate the possible scenarios, underlying economics, and risk associated with scaling up carbon nanotube (CNT) production to a commercially viable scale. As the first stage of this proposed effort, this study characterizes the potential scenarios by which a CNT manufacturing company can generate positive annual net revenue and potentially be considered a competitive manufacturer of CNT products on an …

Strain Path Effect On Austenite Transformation And Ductility In Q&P 1180 Steel, Jeffrey Grant Cramer

Theses and Dissertations

The ductility of Q&P 1180 steel was studied with regard to retained austenite transformation under different strain paths. Specimens were tested in uniaxial tension in a standard test frame as well as in situ in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Then digital image correlation (DIC) was used to compute the effective strain at the level of the individual phases in the microstructure. Stretching experiments were also performed using limiting dome height (LDH) tooling, where specimens were strained in both biaxial and plane strain tension. The experiments were done incrementally, for each strain path, and the retained austenite at each level …

Effect Of Fused Filament Fabrication Process Parameters On The Mechanical Properties Of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers, Abdulrahman S. Alwabel

Theses and Dissertations

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer manufactured using additive manufacturing process is relatively a new process. The ability to predict the mechanical properties of these parts with high confidence will spread the use of these high-strength materials in more applications. The purpose of this research was to determine the effect of the build time between successive layers, arrangement of fiber and nylon layers, fiber start location, and the use of support material on the mechanical properties CFRP produced by additive manufacturing process using the MarkForged (MarkOne) 3D printer. A design of experiment (DOE) we preformed to develop a mathematical model describing the …

Continuous Permeability Measurement During Unidirectional Vacuum Infusion Processing, David Wayne Hoagland

Theses and Dissertations

Composite materials have traditionally been used in high-end aerospace parts and low-end consumer parts. The reason for this separation in markets is the wide gap in technology between pre-preg materials processed in an autoclave and chop strand fiberglass blown into an open mold. Liquid composite molding has emerged as a bridge between inexpensive tooling and large, technical parts. Processes such as vacuum infusion have made it possible to utilize complex layups of reinforcement materials in an open mold style set-up, creating optimal conditions for composites to penetrate many new markets with rapid innovation. Flow simulation for liquid composite molding is …

In Situ Characterization Of Voids During Liquid Composite Molding, Brock Don Zobell

Theses and Dissertations

Global competition is pushing the composites industry to advance and become more cost effective. Liquid Composite Molding or LCM is a family of processes that has shown significant promise in its potential to reduce process times and cost while maintaining high levels of part quality. However, the majority of research and information on composite processes have been related to prepreg-autoclave processing which is significantly different than LCM. In order for LCM processes to gain large scale implementation, significant research is required in order to model and simulate the unique nature of the resin infusion process. The purpose of this research …

Multi-Plc Exercise Environments For Training Ics First Responders, Joseph K. Daoud

Theses and Dissertations

When systems are targeted by cyber attacks, cyber first responders must be able to react effectively, especially when dealing with critical infrastructure. Training for cyber first responders is lacking and most existing exercise platforms are expensive, inaccessible or ineffective. This paper presents a mobile training platform which incorporates a variety of programmable logic controllers into a single system which facilitates the development of the unique skills required of cyber first responders operating in the realm of industrial control systems. The platform is modeled after a jail in the northeastern United States and was developed to maximize realism. Example training scenarios …

A Comparison Of Gestures For Virtual Object Rotation, Brandon Michael Garner

Theses and Dissertations

The fields of virtual reality and gesture-based input devices are growing and becoming more popular. In order for the two technologies to be implemented together, an understanding of gestures in relation to virtual objects and users' expectations of those gestures needs to be understood. Specifically, this thesis focuses on arm gestures for the rotation of virtual objects. Participants in the study were first asked to freely perform an arm gesture they felt should execute a task. Next, participants were asked to perform specific rotation tasks with pre- configured arm gestures on four objects. There were two types of objects: those …

Fitplay Games: Increasing Exercise Motivation Through Asynchronous Social Gaming, Dario Carlos Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

Many factors contribute to people's physical inactivity, but among the leading factors is a lack of motivation. Fitness trackers have been shown to encourage an increase in exercise, but they are frequently abandoned within a few short months. For this thesis I developed and asynchronous-play social gaming platform, FitPlay Games, to fill the gap in motivation left by current fitness trackers. By providing users with a variety of asynchronous cooperative and competitive gaming styles, this platform enable them to find a motivation technique that works best for their lifestyle and fitness prowess. The platform encourages prolonged use of fitness trackers, …

Evaluation Of The Impact Of An Additive Manufacturing Enhanced Cubesat Architecture On The Cubesat Development Process, Rachel E. Sharples

Theses and Dissertations

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a fabrication method ideally suited to low-quantity, highly customized builds, leading to interest in its application to satellite development and manufacturing, where each build is unique. Due to the issues of long development schedules and high development and manufacturing costs, methods are needed in the CubeSat development process to reduce the weight and volume of subsystems and decrease integration time. The work develops an architecture for an AM-augmented CubeSat and examines the AM techniques of embedded electronics, embedded thrusters, and custom radiation-hardened materials can impact the subsystems of a CubeSat. The AM-augmented architecture shows a shift …

Computing Research In Academia: Classifications, Keywords, Perceptions, And Connections, Sung Han Kim

Theses and Dissertations

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) recognizes five computing disciplines: Computer Science (CS), Computer Engineering (CE), Information Technology (IT), Information Systems (IS), and Software Engineering (SE). Founded in 1947 the ACM is the world's largest society for computing educators, researchers, and professionals. While Computer Science has been a degree program since 1962, the other four are relatively new. This research focuses on understanding the graduate research in four of the five ACM disciplines (CS, CE, IT, and IS) using a large body of thesis and dissertation metadata. SE is not found in the metadata and graduate work in SE is …

Determining The Degree Of The Routinization Of Additive Manufacturing In The Air Logistics Complexes, Candis A. Woods

Theses and Dissertations

Fiscal constraints have affected the USAF’s spending and sustainment of weapons systems that are being utilized beyond their programmed life cycle; therefore, it is imperative that processes be given the critical eye for improvement, innovative approaches, and/or best practice implementation. The AFSC, part of the AFMC, has embarked on a groundbreaking effort to transform operations and leverage industry best practices, while maintaining focus on warfighter support to create “The AFSC Way.” The AFSC Way is based on a shared leadership model that emphasizes speed, safety, and quality, which gives way to innovative ideas and new technologies in order to achieve …

Characterizing The Effects Of Capillary Flow During Liquid Composite Molding, Michael Ray Morgan

Theses and Dissertations

As the aerospace industry continues to incorporate composites into its aircraft, there will be a need for alternative solutions to the current autoclaving process. Liquid composite molding (LCM) has proven to be a promising alternative, producing parts at faster rates and reduced costs while retaining aerospace grade quality. The most important factor of LCM is controlling the resin flow throughout the fiber reinforcement during infusion, as incomplete filling of fibers is a major quality issue as it results in dry spots or voids. Void formation occurs at the resin flow front due to competition between viscous forces and capillary pressure. …

Integrating Process Mining With Discrete-Event Simulation Modeling, Siyao Liu

Theses and Dissertations

Discrete-event simulation (DES) is an invaluable tool which organizations can use to help better understand, diagnose, and optimize their operational processes. Studies have shown that for the typical DES exercise, the greatest amount of time is spent on developing an accurate model of the process that is to be studied. Process mining, a similar field of study, focuses on using historical data stored in software databases to accurate recreate and analyze business processes. Utilizing process mining techniques to help rapidly develop DES models can drastically reduce the amount of time spent building simulation models, which ultimately will enable organizations to …

Terminological Mediation In Information Technology And Related Fields, Jessica Smith Richards

Theses and Dissertations

Terminological dissonance is created by the inherent ambiguity of natural language and compounded by ontological specialization efforts within fields. Terminological dissonance creates high-risk miscommunications in two key areas: within Information Technology as a singular domain, and also between IT and other fields in interdisciplinary projects. A comprehensive literature review revealed a lack of previous effort to acknowledge or solve problems of terminological dissonance within Information Technology. This research provides a comprehensive overview and definition of the terminology mediation space as it relates to Information Technology and adjacent fields. An analysis and verification of the contents and implementation of the terminology …

Service Dependency Analysis Via Tcp/Udp Port Tracing, John K. Clawson

Theses and Dissertations

Enterprise networks are traditionally mapped via layers two or three, providing a view of what devices are connected to different parts of the network infrastructure. A method was developed to map connections at layer four, providing a view of interconnected systems and services instead of network infrastructure. This data was graphed and displayed in a web application. The information proved beneficial in identifying connections between systems or imbalanced clusters when troubleshooting problems with enterprise applications.

The Programmatic Generation Of Discrete-Event Simulation Models From Production Tracking Data, Christopher Rand Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Discrete-event simulation can be a useful tool in analyzing complex system dynamics in various industries. However, it is difficult for entry-level users of discrete-event simulation software to both collect the appropriate data to create a model and to actually generate the base-case simulation model. These difficulties decrease the usefulness of simulation software and limit its application in areas in which it could be potentially useful. This research proposes and evaluates a data collection and analysis methodology that would allow for the programmatic generation of simulation models using production tracking data. It uses data collected from a GPS device that follows …

Magnetic Holding Of Synthetic Quartz For Precision Grinding, Saudin Basic

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this research work is to investigate the practicality of magnetic workholding of non-magnetic synthetic quartz during high-speed grinding. This research work is sponsored by Quartzdyne and will be used as the starting point to applying single-piece rounding of its quartz. Hypotheses were created that would permit the authors to conclude that magnets are in fact worthwhile workholders for non-magnetic materials. Designs of Experiments were used to reject or fail to reject the null hypotheses. Experiments were carried out using a custom HAAS lathe, modified into a grinding center with an NSK live spindle, and neodymium-iron-boron magnets used …

Toward Automating Web Protocol Configuration For A Programmable Logic Controller Emulator, Deanna R. Fink

Theses and Dissertations

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) remain vulnerable through attack vectors that exist within programmable logic controllers (PLC). PLC emulators used as honeypots can provide insight into these vulnerabilities. Honeypots can sometimes deter attackers from real devices and log activity. A variety of PLC emulators exist, but require manual figuration to change their PLC pro le. This limits their flexibility for deployment. An automated process for configuring PLC emulators can open the door for emulation of many types of PLCs. This study investigates the feasibility of creating such a process. The research creates an automated process for figuring the web protocols of …

Technology Transition: Guidance Versus Practice, Walter E. Espy

Theses and Dissertations

The transition of technologies ensures that U.S. warfighters have the necessary capabilities to fight ever increasing and changing global threats. The purpose of this study is to discover to what extent the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is implementing known technology transition best practices. The research will look at the current guidance on technology transition and determine if it is being used by program managers within AFRL. The study will consider the technology transition process or processes expressly exercised within AFRL by surveying the perspectives and knowledge of program managers. An understanding of this process from the science and technology …