This grant provides funding to organize an international workshop on micro/meso-mechanical manufacturing. The overarching objectives are to better understand the needs for and issues that surround mechanical manufacturing at the micro/meso scale (M4); to identify enabling technologies as well as weaknesses and scientific barriers, both fundamentally and in the industrial practice of M4; and to formulate research and development needs and strategies so as to accelerate the deployment of M4. A subsidiary goal will be the projection of the potential economic impact of this technology once fully developed. The emphasis will be on the exploration of the feasibility of the miniaturization of the manufacturing equipment and tooling; and the development of associated mechanical and allied processes, e.g., material removal, deformation/forming, and EDM/ECM and others, respectively, in support of M4.
It is anticipated that the findings of this workshop will serve as a basis, for government, academia, and industry to formulate appropriate programs and strategies to overcome, in a concentrated manner, the most critical scientific, technological and economic barriers and to identify the requisite enabling technologies for M4. Specific consensus responses, and recommendations will be contained in a written report on: (1) the state-of-the-art in M4; (2) its potential economic impact; (3) existing scientific and technological barriers; (4) enabling technologies; (5) critical areas in which the United States is falling behind, and (6) a specific prioritized R&D agenda on how to accelerate the development and implementation of viable M4 technologies.
