New Technologies for Materials Processing - Industrial and ...

Focus on Research:
New Technologies for
Materials Processing
Faculty News
Dr. Christopher Saldana has
developed experimental and
industrial platforms that
improve these measures by
introducing tiny amounts of
movement at a high frequency.
This is called micro-scale
contact perturbation.
Longstanding scientific interest in manufacturing
is due in large part to the connections it has to
many other disciplines, including solid mechanics,
materials science and tribology (the study of
interacting moving surfaces). Model approaches to
problems in manufacturing have long studied underlying
phenomena with the purpose of optimization
from a tooling, cost and quality perspective. Dr. Christopher
Saldana, Harold and Inge Marcus Career Assistant Professor,
has assembled a research team focused on extending our understanding
of the physical phenomena intrinsic to deformation
processing and exploring the application of its classical constructs
in newer cross-disciplinary research topics. In these
investigations, Dr. Saldana’s research group utilizes novel experimental
configurations, analytical methods and characterization
tools to determine underlying process mechanics and inform
the development of improved processing methodologies.
One major research thrust of Dr. Saldana’s group involves the
development of new technologies and strategies for materials
processing. The efficiency of material removal processes, such
as micro-machining, is largely determined by energy loss, heat
buildup, friction and chip formation. Dr. Saldana has developed
experimental and industrial platforms that improve these
measures by introducing tiny amounts of movement at a high
frequency. This is called micro-scale contact perturbation. These
perturbations modify the underlying nature of the process, and
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