ASU Research E-Magazine: Speeding the Production Line

Time is money. Faster is better. Engineers at Arizona State University and AlliedSignal Engines think so. Working together, the engineers developed a new manufacturing technology that within two years could speed the production of new turbine-engine parts from six months to almost overnight.

“We’re trying to reduce our cycle time, from concept to having a part actually in our hands,” says AlliedSignal’s David Lowery. Working with Lowery on the project were Russel Biekert, Donald Kelley, and Dale Palmgren from ASU’s department of manufacturing and industrial technology.

The group completed the project in May 1994 after a semester’s work. The work involved the development of a wax-casting process using stereolithography, an automated laser system.

Using the process, engineers use a computer-aided design system to create the geometric representation of a part. A laser beam then scans a pot of liquid polymer (molten wax) in the shape created by the CAD system. The liquid becomes solid as it is touched by the laser light.

The model is dropped down a few thousandths of an inch as the laser works its way up to the top of the design. A mold is then built around the polymer model.

“Put the model into a furnace and the polymer will burn out,” Kelley explains. “Then you pour liquid or molten material into the cavity and out comes a part made of a metal of your choice. This is how expensive golf clubs are made.”

AlliedSignal donated $900,000 worth of related equipment to ASU earlier in 1994. The furnace and associated slurry and mold-making equipment came from the company’s Los Angeles foundry after it closed.

The roots of the award-winning project go back to the early 1970s, when Biekert served as Lowery’s advisor at ASU.

Partnership with AlliedSignal is essential to our continued growth, says Palmgren, coordinator of ASU’s manufacturing engineering technology program.

“With such support,” he adds, “ASU manufacturing students benefit by learning to use state-of-the-art equipment.”