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Robinson, Mark

Publications and source records attributed to Robinson, Mark.

5 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Multi-process tooling for discontinuous carbon and hybrid glass fiber thermoplastics

Expensive tooling often constraints the use of composites in the design and development of automotive parts. While there is significant confidence and knowledge in sheet and bulk metals, composite processes are less understood in mass production environment. The processes used to produce composites and resulting properties are influenced by fiber length attrition, resin to fiber ratio, process waste etc. Tool designs are determined very early in the engineering process. It is cost prohibitive to build additional tools, in the event it becomes obvious a better processing method and material would be beneficial, the original decision is not easily changed. In the present work we recognize the bottleneck of tooling costs and provide an approach of multi-process tooling. The innovation of this work is the design and demonstration of a single tool for different processes namely injection, injection-compression and extrusion-compression. The materials used in this study were long and short fiber thermoplastics (LFTs and SFTs). The resulting structure-property relationships have been reported for the materials and processing methods with a battery tray (BT) tool.

Vaidya, Uday↗
DOE OSTI2021

Multi-Process Tooling

Decisions made early in the automotive design process influence material selection, which in turn dictates process selection and tool design. Because of tool build time and cost of tooling, the original path is not easily altered, even if there is compelling evidence that another material or process would be beneficial. This project focused on tool design that is agile enough to allow its use in multiple processes—injection, injection compression, and extrusion-compression. This tool design allows for the manufacture of components with the most efficient process or materials, without building multiple, single-process tools. The primary purpose of the Multi-Process Tool project was to physically demonstrate that a single, well-designed tool could be used to manufacture parts with a variety of materials that require different processes. A multi-process tool would be beneficial to providing data for any changes to the process since materials and processes can be interchanged without incurring additional tool cost(s). Battery tray parts, (representative of a multi-process tool, were successfully manufactured using various types of materials, such as fiber reinforced (carbon fiber and/or glass fibers, recycled carbon fibers), amorphous (PP, TPU), semi-crystalline (PA6, PA66), and crystalline (thermoset epoxy resin) polymers. Processing of the parts was achieved by injection molding, compression molding, compression overmolding, and injection overmolding. Specimens extracted from various locations on the battery tray parts were evaluated for mechanical properties (flexure and interlaminar shear strength properties). The results show that the tool can be used to produce parts from a wide range of materials and processes with no degradation of the physical or cosmetic properties.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1993

A microbased shared virtual world prototype

Virtual reality (VR) allows sensory immersion and interaction with a computer-generated environment. The user adopts a physical interface with the computer, through Input/Output devices such as a head-mounted display, data glove, mouse, keyboard, or monitor, to experience an alternate universe. What this means is that the computer generates an environment which, in its ultimate extension, becomes indistinguishable from the real world. 'Imagine a wraparound television with three-dimensional programs, including three-dimensional sound, and solid objects that you can pick up and manipulate, even feel with your fingers and hands.... 'Imagine that you are the creator as well as the consumer of your artificial experience, with the power to use a gesture or word to remold the world you see and hear and feel. That part is not fiction... three-dimensional computer graphics, input/output devices, computer models that constitute a VR system make it possible, today, to immerse yourself in an artificial world and to reach in and reshape it.' Our research's goal was to propose a feasibility experiment in the construction of a networked virtual reality system, making use of current personal computer (PC) technology. The prototype was built using Borland C compiler, running on an IBM 486 33 MHz and a 386 33 MHz. Each game currently is represented as an IPX client on a non-dedicated Novell server. We initially posed the two questions: (1) Is there a need for networked virtual reality? (2) In what ways can the technology be made available to the most people possible?

Pitts, Gerald↗