Manufacturing Process and Equipment Systems Cluster

Note: Apply to the individual programs listed below.

The manufacturing enterprise requires the integration of the appropriate scientific, engineering, and mathematics disciplines with design objectives within a systems framework where the desired outcome is a product, service or system. Product realization, integrated product and process development (IPPD), and concurrent engineering are all aspects of the manufacturing enterprise. The drivers for the manufacturing enterprise are the economic, energy and environmental issues that define value in terms of cost, delivery and performance. The Manufacturing Process and Equipment Systems programs encourage innovative research in areas of novel hybrid processing technologies that take advantage of additive and removal processes at all scales of fabrication; in a systems approach to next-generation manufacturing machines, equipment and processes for the low-cost fabrication of functional materials; and in advancing analytic capabilities for virtual manufacturing through robust process control models. Research is needed in order to make macro/meso/micro/nano manufacturing more productive, predictive, efficient, economical, environmentally benign, and globally competitive. The goals of the Manufacturing Process and Equipment Systems Cluster are:

1. to support research that will advance our understanding of the manufacturing processes, machine tools, and systems within the broad scope of unit manufacturing processes
2. to bring about manufacturing innovations that impact economy and society

The Manufacturing Process and Equipment Systems cluster has three program elements: Manufacturing Machines and Equipment (MME), Materials Processing and Manufacturing (MPM), and NanoManufacturing (NM). The emphasis is on research employing a blend of analytical, computational, and experimental efforts to address three key research issues, namely predictability, producibility, and productivity. These issues are key to enhancing performance, efficiency, quality, reduction/elimination of adverse environmental effects in manufacturing to make US industries globally competitive. The following table provides a framework for the various research activities that the programs encompass:

INPUT
Resources and Knowledge

OUTPUT
Parts or Products

The following provides capsule summaries of the three included program elements. Interested researchers are advised to pursue links to specific program pages for more detail.

The Manufacturing Machines and Equipment (MME) Program supports theoretical and experimental research that will lead to the building of models/physical prototypes of new generation of machines and manufacturing equipment, including novel design of machine tool components, reliable on-line, remote/wireless sensing techniques, enhanced metrology, and robust control technologies to improve the effectiveness and the responsiveness of the unit manufacturing processes.

The Materials Processing and Manufacturing (MPM) Program supports the innovation of novel manufacturing processes and methodologies for making useful products from new and recycled materials through the understanding and control of the behavior of materials during processing. The typical research activities include the processing of metals, ceramics, polymers and composite materials. The program does not support research in the processing of semiconductor materials such as Si and GaAs.

The NanoManufacturing (NM) Program supports the innovations in developing novel manufacturing processes and equipment/instrumentation for making nano/micro/macro products from new nanostructured materials through fundamental understanding of nanoscale phenomena and its integration to micro and macro scale. The typical research activities include process mechanisms, design and fabrication of equipment/ instrumentation, establishment of conditions for controlling processes for high reproducibility, determining process/product relationships for desired structural performance, interfacial behavior between particles, phases or components, and developing process and systems models for predicting manufacturability.