Advanced / Additive Manufacturing

My primary research focus is on advanced processing including additive manufacturing of metallic and functionally graded composite (or hybrid) materials for aerospace, energy, and biomedical applications.

Unlike conventional materials removal methods, additive manufacturing (AM) is based on a novel materials incremental manufacturing philosophy. Additive manufacturing implies layer-by-layer shaping and consolidation of powder feedstock to arbitrary configurations, normally using a computer-controlled laser.

• In situ metal matrix composites for high temperature surface engineering applications.
• Functionally graded materials for high throughput applications e.g. alloy development.
• Compositionally graded bone fixation plate to avoid stress shielding.
• Additive manufacturing of magnetic materials.

Additive Manufacturing in Sand Casting

• Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing, has enormous potential to change the way companies design and manufacture products. AM allows engineers to build parts with geometries that are difficult or even impossible to build with traditional subtractive manufacturing processes such as machining. In several industries, 3D printing has been used primarily to create prototypes of products, along with custom tools and fixtures that support the manufacturing or assembly of products.
• Additively manufactured parts can be used in the sand-casting process as a quick replacement for worn or broken tooling components and also be an alternative to traditional sand-casting tooling. This could substantially reduce downtime from several weeks, to only a matter of hours since a CAD file exists of every component. Additionally, traditional tooling does not easily support design changes, whereas 3D printed tooling could accommodate design changes easily since only a CAD model change is required. There is also a significant lead time and cost advantage over traditional tooling.