Funding Source: NSF and industry
Students Needed: 1 either MS or PhD
Advisor: Dr. David Rosen
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Stereolithography (MPSLA) is a high resolution, additive manufacturing process,
which has potential applications in a number of areas like MEMS packaging,
tissue scaffolding, micro fluidics, etc.
MPSLA is a variation of the stereolithography rapid prototyping
technology that fabricates parts layer-by-layer using a laser that writes into
a vat of liquid photopolymer (www.3dsystems.com). We have an
industry funded project to develop a manufacturing process, based on MPSLA
technology, for the production of a customized medical device. For the success of this project, we need a
high resolution model of the MPSLA optics system, a high resolution model of
resin curing (Chemical Engr collaborators will handle this), an understanding
of the mechanical properties of the fabricated device, and a process planning
method that utilizes the high resolution models.
A team of four faculty (1 ME,
3 ChBE), two post-docs, and 2-3 graduate students will work on this
project. The ME graduate student will
have responsibilities for modeling and predicting the mechanical properties of
the device, such as residual stresses and strength, and process planning, as
well as experimental work to confirm models, test predictions, and modify the
MPSLA machine.
Through this project, you
will learn about new approaches to customized product design, emerging
point-of-sale manufacturing processes, commercial rapid prototyping
technologies, new computational techniques for simulating and predicting
material processing operations, and detailed understanding of a variety of
physical phenomena. Either a MS or PhD
thesis can be developed from this project.