AuE 8930—Automotive Applications of Laser Additive Manufacturing
Course Description
The pressing demands in sustainable developments underpin the exploitation of advanced, modern, and lean manufacturing technologies to realize the effective and efficient transformation from raw materials to end products. This course will make students acquainted with working principles, applications, and physics of various up-to-date advanced manufacturing processes that employ laser beam, electron beam, and ion beam. Emphases will be placed on the laser-based additive manufacturing processes. Topics in this course include metal additive manufacturing techniques and their applications, thermal features, defects, materials science related to microstructure evolution and metallic materials selection for metal additive manufacturing, laser welding, process monitoring, hybrid additive manufacturing, 4D printing, and small-scale additive manufacturing. Through this course, students will gain comprehensive insights and well-rounded experience in the practical applications of the learned concepts.
Topical Outline
- Introduction to metal additive manufacturing (AM) technologies
- Applications (in-lab classes provided)
- Laser AM (Laser, Parameters, Thermal Analysis)
- Defects (Porosity, Lack-of-fusion, Cracks, Residual stresses, Roughness)
- Microstructure evolution during AM material processing
- Laser welding
- Process monitoring
- Metallic materials selection for metal AM (steel, aluminum, superalloys, etc.)
- Advanced AM (Hybrid AM, 4D printing, and micro/nano-scale AM)
Course Projects
This course includes two projects. The project topics are related to the ongoing industry-related R&D projects involving the advanced manufacturing techniques covered in this course. Topics vary each semester and will be released in the first class.
Course Schedule
Every Fall semester since 2021
AuE 8660—Advanced Materials for Automotive Applications
Course Description
Advanced structural metals and alloys are revolutionizing a variety of industries, such as the automotive industry, which are reliant upon materials subject to both regular and harsh service conditions. This course aims to provide students with in-depth knowledge of various metallic materials (e.g., steels and iron, aluminum alloys, magnesium alloys, titanium alloys, and metal matrix composites) used in motor vehicles, and fundamental materials science knowledge of composition-process-structure-property relationships, including topics of microstructure, phase diagram and phase transformation, alloying principles, strengthening mechanisms, and heat treatment processes. The influence of material properties on lightweight structural design is also included. Through this course, students are anticipated to learn fundamental and systematic knowledge of metallic materials science, recognize the future of automotive materials, gain comprehensive insights into new material discovery, and obtain practical skills to improve material performance through process and composition optimization.
Topical Outline
- Introduction
- Microstructure
- Phase Diagrams and Transformations
- Alloying Principles
- Strengthening Mechanisms
- Heat Treatment Processes
- Steel and Iron
- Aluminum Alloys
- Magnesium Alloys
- Titanium Alloys
- Metal Matrix Composites
Course Projects
This course includes two projects.
Project 1 is “Composition-Process-Structure-Property Relationships”. This project will enrich students’ core and fundamental materials science knowledge learned in class for the first half-semester of this course. While a representative metallic material for automotive applications will be selected for this project, the knowledge of Composition-Process-Structure-Property Relationships applies to all species of materials.
Project 2 aims to resolve an application problem that is related to the ongoing industry-related R&D projects using the materials science knowledge learned in this course. Project 2 is aligned with the lecture topics for the second half-semester of this course.
Course Schedule
Every Spring semester since 2022