Micro and Nano Manufacturing Lab Research
Micro products and components offer unique advantages. They occupy less space, and consume less energy and material. They can be cheaper. Hence there is a strong demand for miniaturized components from diverse industries such as electronics, optics, medical, biotechnology, automotive, communications, and avionics industries. Learn more about the areas of research at the UCMAN lab below!
Micro Manufacturing
Additive Manufacturing
- Electrochemical Additive Manufacturing (ECAM)
- Localized Electrochemical Deposition using Liquid Marbles
Ultrasonic Machining
Micro/Nano Metrology
Molecular Modelling & Molecular Dynamics Simulation
Nano Manufacturing
- Electro Machining
- Abrasive machining
More About Micro & Nano Manufacturing Lab Research
Product miniaturization demands innovative micro-manufacturing technologies. Lithography-based micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication technologies are capable of producing micro and sub-micrometer size features. However the MEMS techniques have limitations such as restricted choice of work materials (mostly semi-conductor materials), inability to produce complex geometries, huge capital investment and inevitable cleanroom environment. Extreme operating conditions (e.g. high temperature and corrosiveness in exhaust nozzle) demand the use of materials with excellent physical properties such as high fatigue life, high wear resistance, and inertness to corrosion and chemical reactions. These advanced engineering materials due to their exceptional properties such as high hardness, brittleness and/or chemical inertness pose serious machinability challenges, as conventional micromachining methods are found to be inadequate to machine these materials.
In addition to the material properties mentioned above, multi-material micro and nano machining faces additional challenges such as lack of adequate education/training, material handling issues, absence of metrology standards and demand for miniaturized high aspect ratio and complex freeform surfaces.
Micro and nano manufacturing laboratory is committed to innovate, develop and apply cutting edge multi-functional, multi-scale, multi-material processing technologies for reliable and affordable manufacturing solutions across size domains, and educate students on the state-of-the-art in manufacturing science.