Advanced Manufacturing Graduate Option

Advanced Manufacturing focuses on the integration of nanomaterial synthesis and microfabrication techniques and conventional macroscale manufacturing technologies to produce nano- and microscale systems in an economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable manner.

Such efforts require both an understanding of the physical and chemical phenomena influencing manufacturing processes and bottom-up cost estimating to evaluate the economics of competing manufacturing strategies. Process-specific manufacturability rules, tooling and metrology can then be developed and applied.

Requirements Core coursework

Advanced manufacturing work done at Oregon State University is summarized below:

Nanomanufacturing. Nanomanufacturing differs from nanotechnology in that it controls matter at the scale of a nanometer at high production rates. Low-cost routes to nanostructured surfaces and materials involve moving away from gas-phase processing to solution processing. Microchannel process technology (MPT) can enhance heat and mass transfer within solution processes leading to better process control. At Oregon State, researchers are using computational fluid dynamics to evaluate the effects of mixer design on nanoparticle size distribution during nanomaterial synthesis.

Micromanufacturing. Typical micromanufacturing processes are developed around microchannel lamination or powder processing platforms drawing on backgrounds in solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, thermodynamics and material science. Examples of analysis and modeling studies being conducted at OSU include effects of powder/binder systems on flow and compaction behavior in injection molds and effects of device geometry and materials on the outcome of bonding processes.