Month: January 2020

Transforming Metal Casting Science for the 21 st Century – Role of 3D Design Principles and Smart Sand Molds

Abstract: Over 90% of all manufactured goods and machinery use a cast part. Sand casting is a manufacturing process that dates back to 1000 BC and accounts for 70% of all cast parts. Sand casting has several critical applications in a variety of sectors including defense, energy, aerospace and automotive. However, conventional sand casting is regarded as a process of uncertainty due to its tendency to render higher scrap rates even in completely controlled processing environments. Casting defect analysis shows that over 90% of casting defects occur due to improper gating and feeding systems. This talk will present a novel approach to rethink the design principles for: (1) sand cast parts and (2) gating and feeding systems to reduce defects in a given casting, alloy systems and pouring conditions. A systematic framework for the design, hybrid molding and instrumentation of molds for sand castings is presented for alloys of varying freezing ranges and pouring conditions. Results from numerical analysis, computational melt flow simulations and experimental evaluation show that 3D Sand-Printing can lower melt flow turbulence in castings which reduces casting defects (35% reduction) and improves as-cast mechanical properties (8.4% increase in flexural strength). Finally, early results from concurrent efforts to digitize the entire workflow of sand casting into wireless ‘Casting 4D’ is presented to visualize melt flow in sand molds.

Biographical Sketch: Dr. Guha Manogharan is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and an Affiliate Assistant Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University – University Park. He heads the Systems for Hybrid – Additive Processing Engineering – The SHAPE Lab located in Innovation Park, Penn State. His research areas include additive and hybrid manufacturing, 3D Sand-Printing for novel metal casting processes, material development, and inter-disciplinary mechanical, biomedical and aerospace applications of additive manufacturing. Dr. Manogharan received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from North Carolina State University. He was awarded the 2018 International Outstanding Young Researcher in Freeform and Additive Manufacturing Award (FAME Jr), 2017 Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ Yoram Koren Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award and the 2016 Outstanding Young Investigator by Manufacturing and Design Division of Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

Thanh Nguyen named the ACell Young Investigator Faculty Award Winner

Prof. Thanh Nguyen receives the highly regarded ACell Young Investigator Faculty Award at the 2020 Regenerative Medicine Workshop, which brings together leading experts from across the expansive field of regenerative medicine. Prof. Nguyen will deliver a keynote speech along with other world renowned researchers in the field of regenerative medicine during the event, which will take place at the Wild Dune Resort, South Carolina, in March 2020.

Additional details are available through the workshop website.

Design for Additive Manufacturing: Three Use Cases and Their Implications

Abstract: A pattern is emerging among companies adopting metal-based additive manufacturing (AM).  In the first stage, they use AM to replicate an existing part to understand the technology’s costs and capabilities.  This gives them insight into AM processes and allows them to move onto the second stage wherein they adapt their designs for AM to reap more of its benefits—leveraging the design and material freedoms that AM affords.  Finally, companies will shift to optimizing for AM as they gain confidence in an AM process while learning how to capitalize on AM to its full potential. These three stages can be effective when designing for AM, but only if expectations are carefully managed at each stage.  Automotive, aerospace, consumer goods, and oil and gas examples from Penn State’s Center for Innovative Materials Processing through Direct Digital Deposition (CIMP-3D) are presented to illustrate the benefits and drawbacks of each stage. CIMP-3D served as the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) for Additive Manufacturing for DARPA’s Open Manufacturing Program.  In this role, CIMP-3D toured more than 6,000 visitors, organized a dozen technical forums and exchanges, and instituted the first hands-on industry practicum for metal AM. Efforts to educate the next generation workforce and (re)train the current workforce to use AM effectively and design for AM will also be discussed.

Biographical Sketch: Dr. Simpson is the Paul Morrow Professor of Engineering Design & Manufacturing at Penn State with affiliate appointments in Architecture and Information Sciences & Technology.  He serves as the co-Director of CIMP-3D (www.cimp-3d.org) and directs the world’s first interdisciplinary graduate program in Additive Manufacturing & Design.  He has been PI or Co-PI on over $25M in funding for research in additive manufacturing and 3D printing, product family and product platform design, and multidisciplinary design optimization, including surrogate modeling and trade space exploration.  He has published over 350 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers and 2 edited textbooks, and he contributes a monthly column to Modern Machine Shop called “Additive Insights”.  He is a recipient of ASME’s Design Automation Award, Robert E. Abbott Award, and Ben C. Sparks Award as well as the ASEE Fred Merryfield Design Award.  He has received numerous awards for outstanding research and teaching at Penn State, including the 2019 Teaching and Learning with Technology Impact Award.  He is a Fellow in ASME and an Associate Fellow in AIAA. He chaired the ASME Design Engineering Division Executive Committee and the ASME Design, Manufacturing, and Materials (DMM) Segment Leadership Team.  He helped ASME launch the Innovative Additive Manufacturing 3D (IAM3D) Design Challenge in 2014, and he served as the chair of ASME’s industry-focused Additive Manufacturing & 3D Printing Conference & Expo in 2015 and 2016.  He received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell.

 

 

Buzzing Through the Blood-Brain Barrier

Prof. Thanh Nguyen’s research group has reported on the first biodegradable ultrasonic transducer that can help medication move from blood vessels into brain tissues and circumvent the body’s traditional defense mechanisms.The work is published in the journal of PNAS (Proceeding of National Academy of Science) (Dec 2019), and the two first authors of this paper are PhD students in Nguyen lab, namely Thinh Le and Eli Curry.

A PLLA piezoelectric nanofiber film (left) to generate an acoustic wave (middle) that can open the blood-brain barrier (BBB) (right) to deliver medicines into the brain tissue.

When implanted into the brain, this novel device can generate ultrasonic waves for buzzing drugs through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to treat brain diseases (e.g. cancers), and then self-vanish, avoiding the need of invasive removal surgery that is often required for conventional medical implants. More details can be found in the UConn Today article.