Date of Award

Fall 2007

Project Type

Dissertation

Program or Major

Mechanical Engineering

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Abstract

With the emergence of micromanufacturing technologies, a critical need to develop process models that can accurately predict the required parameters, such as process forces, has arisen. As with the manufacturing processes themselves, macroscale process models can not effectively be used at the microscale due to size effects, i.e. changes in material and process parameters with miniaturization. Size effects with respect to material properties and frictional conditions have been demonstrated in past research. This dissertation demonstrates the existence of size effects due to process model assumptions and specimen deformation.

The new models were evaluated by comparing the predicted results to both experimental and finite element simulation results. These new models showed significantly improved predictions of the peak forces for the microscale processes investigated. This is significant because sheet metal forming processes such as bending and extrusion are ideal fabrication techniques for mass production of parts at very competitive unit costs.

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