Edward C. De Meter, professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering, was recently awarded a $25,000 gift from the Quaker Chemical Foundation for equipment, materials and supplies for machining process research.
De Meter will use the funds to purchase a Nikon Stereomicroscope with digital system capturing and measuring software and a Data Physiks SignalCalc ACE/Quattro Analyzer. The stereoscope is used to measure the wear and surface topography of cutting tools and the analyzer is a data acquisition system that will be used to collect cutting force data during machining process experiments. This equipment and associated materials will be used for graduate student research, senior capstone design projects and in instructional laboratories.
In addition to the purchase of equipment, funds also will support a graduate student conducting research focusing on the development of a technology to enable the five-sided machining of complex aerospace and biomedical parts. If successful, this research could lead to substantial improvements in the quality of these components, as well as a significant drop in their production costs.