Andrew Otieno

SIMULATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS ON MACHINING CARBON AND LOW ALLOY STEELS AT RAKE FACE TEMPERATURES UP TO 1200°C

Finite element simulations are reported of the machining of carbon and low alloy steels at speeds from 50 to 300 m/min and feeds from 0.125 to 0.3 mm/rev. Their mechanical models include yield delay (resulting in an upper yield point followed by a yield drop). Predictions are compared with experimentally measured cutting and thrust forces, shear plane angles and rake face temperatures (from tool-work thermocouple measurements) in these conditions. Agreements are generally within 10% for all quantities, except that some uncertainty arises from comparing the semi-orthogonal experimental with the plane strain simulation data.

Creating a bridge to simulate simultaneous engineering experiences for senior undergraduate students

Launching new or improved products to the market typically involves extensive collaboration within and beyond the enterprise. Succeeding in a customer-driven market economy demands the practice of simultaneous engineering. The standard engineering or engineering technology curricula continue to make efforts in providing students with opportunities to engage in real-life projects that simulate simultaneous engineering. However, the educational community as a whole has much to implement in this area. This paper presents an approach used to nurture simultaneous engineering through a unique collaboration between instructors in different disciplines. Student teams, formed from three different classes, conceived problems and worked through a problem-solving model to design and develop solutions. An assessment of these interdisciplinary projects revealed significant learning outcomes and their relationships to the diversity of team members. The experiences of both students and instructors are described and some recommendations made for instructor teams that envisage interdisciplinary student projects.

International cooperation of Brazilian research engineers: Patterns of collaboration based on a survey of the literature

In recent years, engineering research has become global and collaborative. In this paper we analyzed the engineering research productivity of Brazil, one of the countries showing significant economic growth in the first decade of the twenty-first century. We have used the Science Citation Index of Web of Science to find out the patterns of research between Brazil and seven Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela); and between Brazil and countries of the major industrial democracies or G8 group: France, United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada. This survey of the literature of engineering clearly demonstrates the utility of well-designed bibliographic databases like the Web of Science; they can be very effective tools for identifying interesting research trends. Finally, conducting research jointly also presumes a place in a strategic network of nations, institutions or organizations able to take a regional or inter-regional role under common interests. Therefore, it is important to understand the geography of scientific and technical cooperations.

ESSENTIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR MANUFACTURING PRODUCTS CONTAINING BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS

An engine that drives the United States’ economic growth is an ever-increasing demand for manufactured products, both at home and abroad. As environmental concerns grow, however, renewable resources are gaining increasing attention, especially as industrial ecology and product biodegradability gain in prevalence. Added to this, biological materials are increasingly being utilized to replace traditional materials in manufacturing. To aid both educators as well as researchers, this paper examines several considerations that are essential for manufacturing products that contain biomaterials. These include the selection of materials, the selection of manufacturing processes, manufacturing costs, and the quality of final products. Additionally, several standard methods that are commonly used for the determination of mechanical and physical properties are compiled; thus this paper should be a useful resource for both educators and researchers. The trends discussed here and their implications are critical for those involved in manufacturing, because contrary to conventional wisdom, simultaneously meeting the material production needs of our society, as well as that of the environment, are not mutually-exclusive.

A survey of manufacturing engineering databases

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine current databases available for manufacturing engineering and summarizes their relevance.Design/methodology/approach – To promote research in manufacturing engineering, comprehensive literature should be made accessible through relevant databases. Databases not only provide information on global research but aid in assessing the impacts of research and identify promising research directions. The databases are presented in eight sections according to the type of document being sought.Findings – The manufacturing engineering literature is robust; there are excellent products available to support this highly technical field. The databases found are from many different sources: commercial publishers, professional organizations, national and international agencies, and collaborative endeavors.Research limitations/implications – Sources found originate mainly from the USA and Europe.Originality/value – This paper demonstrates the importance of literature mining ...