facilities links
- Materials Laboratory
- Applied Experimental Mechanics Laboratory
- Manufacturing Laboratory
(Applied Measurement Laboratory, Metal Castings Laboratory, Welding Laboratory, Manufacturing Processes, Plastics Laboratory) - Applied Energy Laboratory
- Fluid Power Laboratory
- Machine Tool Laboratory
- Prime Mover Laboratory
- MFET Manufacturing Center
about us : facilities
Manufacturing Laboratory
The Manufacturing Laboratory, located in Michael Golden Laboratories, is a high bay open- layout space which occupies over 5,000 square feet. The laboratory is composed of several distinct yet integrated areas which serve a large number of courses in the College of Technology. Several of the distinct areas are described below.
- Applied Measurement Laboratory
- Metal Castings Laboratory
- Welding Laboratory
- Manufacturing Processes
- Plastics Laboratory
Applied Measurement Laboratory
This laboratory is a climate controlled, precision measurements laboratory of approximately 500 square feet.
The laboratory serves:
- MET 141 (Materials and Processes I),
- MET 242 (Manufacturing Processes),
- MFET 400 (Manufacturing Engineering Technology ),
- MFET 243 (Automated Manufacturing Processes).
Equipment includes: a computerized coordinate measuring machine, vision systems, an optical comparator, electronic gages, surface roughness measurement, and a full array of hand-held measuring instruments.
Metal Castings Laboratory
The Metalcasting Laboratory, or better known as the "Foundry", represents a large area in the Manufacturing Laboratory. The Metalcasting Laboratory can accommodate up to 16 students. It serves:
- MET 142 (Materials and Processes II).
The laboratory is equipped with modern equipment for melting, mold making, and quality inspection. The laboratory has a state-of-the-art induction melting unit with two 300 pound furnaces which are primarily used for melting aluminum, cast iron, and steel. The molding capabilities include green sand, chemically bonded sand, evaporative pattern, rubber molding, and permanent molding. Some of the mold making processes are mechanized, e.g., green sand and chemically bonded sand. In addition, the laboratory is equipped with machines for automatic permanent mold casting and for centrifugal casting.
The laboratory is equipped with a state-of-the-art spectrometer for measuring chemical composition of various alloys. Current analytical capabilities include variety of common steels, several types of cast iron, and most aluminum alloys. The laboratory also has comprehensive property testing and inspection capabilities for green sand. There are also several IBM PCs with data acquisition capability for collecting various data related to metalcasting process. The laboratory has the latest version of computer software for simulation of mold filling and solidification processes.
Welding Laboratory
The Welding Laboratory is located in an enclosed area of the Manufacturing Laboratory. The Welding Laboratory can accommodate up to 16 students. It serves:
- MET 142 (Manufacturing Processes II)
- MET 215 (Welding),
- MET 345 (Welding Processes).
The laboratory is equipped for most common welding and cutting processes -- oxyfuel welding and brazing, shielded metal arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding, gas metal arc welding, resistance spot welding, oxygen cutting, and plasma arc cutting. The laboratory also has a state-of-the-art robot and power supply for automatic gas metal arc welding.
The laboratory is well equipped for destructive and non-destructive testing of weldments. Destructive testing capabilities include hardness testing and guided bend testing. Non-destructive testing includes dye-penetrant testing, ultrasound testing, eddy current testing, and magnetic particle testing.
Manufacturing Processes
The machine tool laboratory described in another section is supplemented with several computer controlled machining centers that are located in strategic areas in the Manufacturing Laboratory.
The laboratory serves:
- MET 242 (Manufacturing Processes),
- MFET 243 (Automated Manufacturing Processes),
MFET 400 (Computer Integrated Manufacturing), - TECH 581A (Manufacturability).
A CNC milling machine and turning center are available to support the study of state-of-the-art automated manufacturing.
Plastics Laboratory
The Plastics Laboratory is located in the Manufacturing Laboratory, and is used primarily for an industrial technology course. However, plastics samples made in this laboratory are used for several mechanical engineering technology materials courses.
The laboratory serves:
- IT 221 (Polymer Materials and Processes).
The centerpiece of the Plastics Laboratory is an 85 ton Van Dorn Demag toggle injection press. The Van Dorn press is representative of current industrial equipment, and is used to provide students with hands-on exposure to the thermoplastic injection molding process. The press is currently set up with a mold that produces ASTM tensile, flexural and impact test specimens, which can be molded in a variety of common thermoplastic materials; material properties can then be determined for molded thermoplastic materials using both destructive and non-destructive test methods. The ASTM mold plates slide into a standard mold base, so that future projects can include student development of injection molds (by designing and cutting new plates for this mold base). Two former production injection molds are also available for this press.
The Plastics Laboratory also includes equipment for other common plastics processes. Equipment is available for rotational casting, blow molding, compression molding (phenolics) profile extrusion, blown film extrusion, vacuum thermoforming, free forming, hot air welding, and fluidized bed coating. Students also gain experience in dip casting, embedment casting, water extended polyester casting, and the hand lay-up process for polymer composites. Testing equipment is available to evaluate the temperature and time dependent properties of plastics materials, along with most common physical properties.