The thesis presents a combined experimental and computational investigation of a novel thermochemical material removal mechanism for cutting of polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) substrates through controlled crack propagation. The CO2-Laser/Waterjet machining system developed by the Iowa State University’s Laboratory for Lasers, MEMS, and Nanotechnology was utilized to achieve specimen...

The configuration of an autonomous decentralized manufacturing system using multi agent technology is proposed to get more flexibility. In this digital factory, all elements such as machine tool, assembly machine, AGV, and product are installed as agents. The product agents take the initiatives in the system. When a blank workpiece is put on the shop floor, the product agent is dynamically gene...

The variation in the volume of rock removed when a water jet traverses over a sample of Barre Granite is shown to vary with the angle at which the sample is cut relative to the orientation of the main deposit. For example where the jet impacts perpendicular to a microfissure plane a channel up to 10 times the volume is cut as when the jet is traversed along the microfissure plane. A correlation...

Splattering of droplets during liquid jet impingement on solid targets alters the efficiencies of jet impingement heat transfer processes and chemical containment safety devices, and leads to problems of aerosol formation in jet impingement cleaning processes. A study of the turbulent liquid jet impingement splattering, the evolution of the disturbances on the free surface of a turbulent liquid...

Liquid-phase plasma is not well known, although it has been used sparingly in water treatments and electrical discharge machining. We have named the liquid-phase plasma “solution plasma” and developed solution plasma processing (SPP). This paper reports the applications of SPP to syntheses of nanoparticles, surface modification of metals, and sterilization of water.