Ongoing & Proposed Projects
1. New strategies / approaches for fabrication and shape generation through material manipulation at meso, micro and nano scales:
Capabilities of some currently used advanced fabrication techniques can be enhanced through some modifications. Development of Micro EDM can help in producing components and features at meso and micro scales. Initiative in this direction has been taken by the researchers at IIT Kanpur, Northwestern University and UIUC.
2. Fabrication at small scales using exotic materials – soft materials, bio materials, polymers , gels, composites etc. :
Fabrication of components and devices using non metallic materials, polymers and other kind of soft materials will play a major role in the future. Techniques of feature generation in such materials will be an important activity. A considerable amount of work has already been done at IIT Kanpur and UCI.
3. Generative manufacturing processes – direct metal deposit techniques for micro sized parts:
Generative shaping technology has been traditionally been used for rapid prototyping primarily as such techniques use non metallic materials. However using high power lasers generation of parts using metals has been developed. This process will be investigated further to develop machines and technology for producing parts of mesoscopic and microscopic sizes. Machines to produce metallic parts of macroscopic size has been successfully developed by University of Michigan Ann Arbor. CMERI, Durgapur has taken initiative to develop machines to produce microscopic parts through the same technique.
4. Shape generation by self assembly technique and self patterning:
These will constitute the most exotic and advanced manufacturing processes in the coming decades. When perfected these will be the ultimate manufacturing technology that will imitate the birth and growth of living organisms. Un coded self assembly techniques are used currently in chemical and drug industries. Efforts will be made to develop simulation models of such processes for 3D shape generation. Self pattern generation techniques will also play a major role in the futuristic manufacturing world. Very preliminary work has been attempted in this topic at IIT Kanpur; but, the intentions are to pursue research in this area more intensively.
5. Micro fluidic-based micro devices – both modeling-simulation and development:
A large number of diagnostic devices and biomedical appliances will employ micro fluidic technology. Significant amount of research has been conducted at UCI and IIT Kharagpur in this area. A number of research projects are already being pursued under the Indo-US Centre. This trend will continue and more research projects may be initiated in Phase 2. A considerable scope exists for entrepreneurial venture in this area and this may be of importance to the health care sector of India and the developing countries
6. AFM based technology for mRNA isolation and protein sequencing:
This is an extremely important area of activity that may have a tremendous impact on life science and medical science. Using AFM technology for protein manipulation is a distinct possibility which may be of paramount importance in many areas of medical science. Development of technology and device for such manipulation will be taken up through a sponsored project by the members of the Indo-US Centre at UCI, IITKanpur and UMC.
7. Smart material actuated micro mechanisms and micro devices:
Multifunctional smart materials are envisaged to play a predominant role in the design of micro and nano sized devices and mechanisms. It is noted that while smart sensors and devices have been already integrated with MEMS devices, current research on smart materials and artificial muscles are mostly confined to the macro scale objects. Research in this direction will be focused on areas like mesomechanical derivations of the constitutive relationships of smart polymers, modeling of fully compliant smart mechanisms etc. Work in this area is currently going on at UCI and IIT Kanpur. CMERI Durgapur has also taken up this area as one of their proposed thrust areas.
8. Protein motors for actuating autonomous nano robots and manipulators:
The future nano sized manipulators and devices need driving motors which will function at molecular dynamics level. Protein motors can serve the purpose of drives and actuators for such machines and manipulators. Simulation and modeling work on protein motors are being done at IIT Kanpur. CMERI Durgapur has joined hands with Indian Institute of Chemical Biology to develop expertise in this novel area.
9. Micro machine tools and micro factories:
Extensive research and development work in the area of micro machine tools and micro factory concept is being conducted at UIUC and Northwestern university. Reconfigurable Modular Micro System technology is also a major planned activity at CMERI Durgapur. Research and development activities in this area will be pursued in the second phase of the Centre activities.
10. Hybrid Multi-scale Process Development
The objective of this project is to develop a hybrid multi-scale process combining forming and removal processes for production of 3-D meso/micro-scale parts with micro/nano-scale features and nano-scale accuracy. Recently, a piezoelectrically-driven sub-micron positioning stage with 10 m m range of motion has been designed and developed at the UIUC. Also, at the UIUC, a probe-based electrochemical deposition method has been developed that can fabricate vertically aligned Cu nanowire arrays, with the Cu nanowires having diameters down to 200 nm and lengths up to 10 µm. In this research, the principles of flexure stage design and calibration, micro-scale machine tool and machining science and electrochemical deposition will be extended to create fully-integrated hybrid process. Important design criteria will include robust operation, portability, and high reliability. Figure 1 shows some early results using the positioning stage and deposition process to produce interconnected copper wires 50 m m long, 1 m m in diameter with less than 25 nm variation in diameter.
Collaborative Research Projects:
The collaborative R & D efforts among the partnering institutes and universities are very satisfactory and already a number of projects have been sponsored by the NSF, USA and the DST, India. These are as follows:
(i) " Incremental Forming at Multiscale " – Prof. Jian Cao of Northwestern University in collaboration with Prof N. V. Rddy of IIT Kanpur. Sanctioned by NSF.
(ii) " Experimental and Theoretical Studies on DNA Hybridization in Microchannels with Electrokinetically Driven Flow " – Prof. Suman Chakraborty of IIT Kharagpur in collaboration with Prof. Marc Madou of UCI Sanctioned by the DST.
(iii) " IRES: US-India Fast DNA Hybridization in Microfluidic Platforms " – Prof. Marc Madou of UCI in collaboration with Prof. Suman Chakraborty of IIT Kharagpur. Sanctioned by the NSF.
(iv) " Microstructured Functional Thin Films and Interfaces of Soft Materials " – Prof. Ashutosh Sharma of IIT Kanpur in collaboration with Prof Marc Madou of UCI. Sanctioned by the DST.
(v) " Incremental Sheet Metal Forming at Multiscales " – Prof N. V. Reddy of IIT Kanpur in collaboration with Prof Jian Cao. Sanctioned by the DST.
The following project proposals have already been submitted for funding:
(i) " Productivity Enhancement in Micro EDM Milling " – Profs. S G Kapoor of UIUC and K Ehmann of Northwestern University in collaboration with Prof. J. Rama Kumar and Prof Amitabha Ghosh of IIT Kanpur. Submitted to the NSF.
(ii) " 3D Integrated Microsystems with Molecularly Imprinted Hydrogel for Biomedical Applications " – Prof S R Kal of IIT Kharagpur in collaboration with Prof Nicholus
