Manufacturing Research Laboratory

The Manufacturing Research Laboratory is an interdisciplinary laboratory dedicated to working with industry and government to improve state-of-the-art machining, machine tools, and automation. Located in the Leonhard Building on the Penn State campus, it houses modern equipment and instrumentation for manufacturing research. The lab performs research from process modeling and tool development through automation of the machining process and its integration into the manufacturing enterprise. Recent research that has been performed in the lab includes:

Functionally graded cutting tool materials
Uses of spark plasma sintering for insert fabrication
Residual stress prediction and measurement in machined components
Effects of microstructure on chip formation and machinability in cast irons
Nanomachining of aluminum
Rapid prototyping using CNC
Manufacturing cell design
Simulation-based control

The lab has an extensive array of equipment including:

Hardinge VMC-1000 CNC machining center (4-axis), Quest 6/42 turning center and Quest 6/42 turning center w/ hydrostatic linear guideways damping system
ABB IRB 2400 robot and ABB IRB 2400L robot
Kardex vertical automated storage retrieval system
LeBlond lathe (continuous speed) and Boeringer lathe (continuous speed)
Associated instrumentation includes: Kistler dynamometers, quick-stop device, B&S profilometer, coordinate measuring machines, roundness tester