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Department of Mechanical Engineering

Undergraduate Curriculum Learning Objectives

MCEN 4026 - Manufacturing Processes and Systems

1. Central Role of Manufacturing

  • Define manufacturing and explain its relationship to design and marketing.
  • Describe the value added by manufacturing and its role in creating wealth in a nation.
  • Provide a historical perspective on the changing nature of manufacturing in the USA.

2. Material Properties, Product Attributes and Related Phenomenon

  • Describe the nature of materials including atomic structure, crystalline and non-crystalline structures, and engineering materials.
  • Explain stress-strain relationships.
  • Discuss effect of temperature on properties.

3. Engineering Materials

  • Explain alloys and phase diagrams.
  • Discuss ferrous and non-ferrous metals and super alloys.
  • Discuss fundamentals of polymer technology, including thermosetting and thermoplastic polymers and elastomers.
  • Introduce students to composite materials such as metal matrix composites, ceramic matrix composites and polymer matrix composites.
  • Explain the fundamentals of heat treatment for ferrous and non-ferrous materials.

4. Metal Casting

  • Discuss the fundamentals of casting metals including casting terminology, solidification analysis, cast structure, shrinkage and common defects.
  • Explain different expendable mold casting processes.
  • Discuss the different multi-use mold casting processes.
  • Introduce students to good foundry practices and product design considerations.

5. Metal Forming and Sheet Metal Working

  • Explain fundamentals of metal forming including material behavior and temperature in metal forming.
  • Cover fundamentals of rolling, forging, extrusion, wire and bar drawing.
  • Describe basics of sheet metal working from cutting, bending and drawing operations to dies and presses for sheet metal processes.

6. Material Removal Processes

  • Provide theory of chip formation in metal machining.
  • Describe force relationships and the Merchant Equation, and provide energy and power relationships in machining.
  • Introduce students to turning, drilling, milling, grinding and broaching operations.

7. Polymer Processing

  • Describe the technology and the underlying physics of shaping processes for plastics.
  • Discuss properties of polymer melts.
  • Explain fundamental polymer processing including extrusion, spinning, coating processes, injection molding, compression and transfer molding.
  • Provide an introduction to shaping processes for polymer matrix composites.

8. Principles of World Class Manufacturing

  • Introduce students to basic practices of World Class Manufacturing.
  • Explain the principles underlying inspection, quality control, SPC and process capability indices.

9. Joining and Assembly Processes (optional)

  • Provide an overview of welding technology; discuss the weld joint and the physics of welding. Introduce students to different welding processes including arc, resistance, oxyfuel gas and solid-state welding.
  • Discuss the basics of brazing, soldering and adhesive bonding. Describe the different soldering processes including vapor phase, wave and infrared soldering.
  • Explain the basic differences between the different joining processes.

Catalog Description

A senior level course that examines widely used manufacturing processes for metals, polymers, microelectronics and also exposes students to principles and practices of world class manufacturing. Lecture topics include material properties; engineering materials; casting, molding and related processes; metal forming and sheet metal working; material removal processes; joining and assembly processes; electronics manufacturing technology; and principles and practices of world class manufacturing.

Prepared by Daria Kotys-Schwartz 4/28/09