The Ohio State University

Mission and Overview

The Design and Manufacturing interest group emphasizes the fundamental principles involved in the proper selection of materials, definitions of optimal shapes, and establishment of appropriate manufacturing processes necessary to meet today’s product demands.

Thrust Areas

• Biomechanics
• Computer-aided design and manufacturing
• Kinematics
• Net shape manufacturing
• Robotics
• Tribology

Faculty Research

Research in the Design and Manufacturing group is a unique blend that spans many areas, including mechatronics, precision engineering, tribology, kinematics, net shape manufacturing, robotics, manufacturing processes modeling and design, modeling of manufacturing processes, fatigue and reliability of automotive and aerospace components, and computer-aided design and manufacturing. Faculty in the Design and Manufacturing group maintain thriving research programs involving theoretical, experimental, and computational investigations in a broad range of applications. Students have access to exceptional experimental and computer facilities in pursuit of their research. The work is supported by major grants from federal and industrial sponsors for graduate student funding and advanced research equipment. Design and Manufacturing faculty have received numerous national and international awards for research and teaching achievements, and many are fellows of major professional societies.

Research Facilities

The Department has extensive facilities available to support design and manufacturing activities. Computers are available for general research and teaching, and a large number of microcomputers are available in dedicated research areas. In addition, throughout the. Small-scale manufacturing can be done in the Rapid-Design Prototyping laboratory which has five tabletop CNC milling machines, five CNC lathes, and a Stratasys fused deposition modeling machine. The Department has a 4000 square foot tribology laboratory which includes a measurement and microtribology room, computer room, and general tribology and contamination room. The laboratory is environmentally and contamination controlled to a specification of Class 10,000. The laboratory is equipped with sophisticated research equipment including a scanning tunneling microscope, atomic force microscope, non-contact optical profiler, and microhardness tester.