Materials, Manufacturing, Mechanics

Laboratories

  • Composites Pre-processing Laboratory

    This lab is used for fabrication and study of bio products which can include wood products, bio composites, activated carbon, and any materials made from renewable resources. The lab is used to prep materials and construct composites. Currently in the lab is a concrete tester, a differential scanning caloromiter, a plasma etcher, and some other equipment most of which is used to characterize the material properties of what is made in the lab. Most characterization is specific to properties that are important most bioproducts. A seconday Lab to this space is D140 where this lab is stores the large box furnace, tube furnace, large universal testing machine, and wind tunnel senior design project. The furnaces are used to activate materials into complex carbon structures or modify materials with heat treatments. Much of the research done in D140 is linked to lab D144.

    Inside Composites Pre-processing Laboratory

    Faculty/Staff: Sheldon Shi
  • Digital Manufacturing Laboratory

     

    Room: F173

    • Profilometry for Surface Characterization
    • 3D Printing with UV Projection in Biocompatible Materials
    • Mold and Die Manufacturing with High-Speed Machining
    • Computer-Aided Engineering and Topology Optimization
    • Nano and Micro Scale Surface Mechanics by Nanoindentation
    • Rapid Fabrication for Biomedical and Aeronautical Applications
    Faculty/Staff: Hector R. Siller
  • Manufacturing Laboratory

    The Manufacturing Lab is used for the class 3100 Manufacturing Processes as well as the capstone design classes. Students will study the manufacturing processes and their capabilities, analysis and economics. Study of the fundamentals of engineering processes in manufacturing as related to design and production and materials properties. Traditional and non-traditional manufacturing process and selection optimization. Students are given laboratory assignments in material removal, forming, casting, joining, forging and computer-aided machining.

     

     

    Faculty/Staff: Mark Wasikowski
  • Materials Technology Laboratory

    Materials

    • Iron oxides and hydroxides
    • Magnetic materials (magnetite)
    • Cubic boron nitride
    • Diamond coatings
    • Diamond like carbon
    • silicon
    • nanocomposites

    Applications

    • Corrosion resistance coatings
    • Rust transformers formulation
    • Durable flat panel display
    • Micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS)
    • Thermal management in electronic packaging
    • Advanced tooling for materials processing

    Processes

    • Physical vapor deposition (electron beam evaporation)
    • Hot filament chemical vapor deposition
    • Micro and nano surface engineering
    • Materials characterization
    • Failure analysis
    • Electron microscopy
    Faculty/Staff: Seifollah Nasrazadani
  • Nanoscale Energy Transport Laboratory

    Nanoscale Energy Transport  Laboratory provides researchers with top-of-the-line computational software and hardware. The student and faculty researchers are developing improved computational modeling techniques and design tools open to collaborators in both industry and academia. Tools developed here in the laboratory or our various commercial programs (MATLAB, ANSYS, SINDA/Fluint, and more) have resulted in publications in prestigious journals and have been used in classroom teaching. Between Dr. Sadat and Dr. R. Zhang, they share thousands-CPU dedicated cores to ensure express development of simulations. Funding has been supported by Office of Naval Research.

    Zihao Richard Zhang Ph.D.

    Research Interest

    • Understanding nanoscale heat transfer phenomena, by modeling quantum interactions and electrodynamics of atomic-scale energy carriers, such as electrons, phonons, and photons. Outcomes in theoretical methods for optical and infrared properties of ultra-thin films, heat conduction in 2D materials and nanotubes/wires, and thermoelectric/piezoelectric effect for waste heat recovery.

    • Characterization of materials for aerospace systems, including optical reflectors, radiators, thermal switches, interfaces, electronics, etc. Supporting student-led CubeSat design and testing team for NASA space flights.

    Research Projects

    1) Few-parameter computational modeling of electron and phonon interactions driving a non-equilibrium thermoelectric effect in a semiconductor nanowire/2D sheet pulsed by a femtosecond laser (AFOSR)

    2) Far-field and near-field (nanogap) thermal radiative properties of patterned topological insulator semiconductors

    3) CubeSat thermal management using temperature-actuated shape memory alloys (NASA)

     

    Inside Nanoscale Energy Transport Laboratory

    Faculty/Staff: Zihao Richard Zhang
  • Polymer and Composites Performance Laboratory

    Room: D126

    This lab is used for material characterizations including, mechanical properties, thermal, acoustic, electrical, surface properties, specific surface area, and porosity, biodegradability, flammability, and etc. This lab contains a large amount of equipment that is used to determine the properties of the different materials that are brought to our department or made within the department. The lab includes universal testing machine that can determine the mechanical properties, various machines that can determine surface area, there is a composter that is used to determine the gasses produced by a material that is undergoing decomposition which can measure how biodegradable a material is and it is only one of a few in the southern united states.

    Composites Characterizations Laboratory inside

  • Senior Design Laboratory

    Senior Design is the capstone undergraduate design project of the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering. Seniors are able to apply their knowledge and showcase their abilities through the completion of challenging, real-world design problems. Students will research and select an issue, then design a project with the guidance of advisors and sponsors. In Design II, student ideas are brought to life by prototype construction, testing and final analysis. Senior Design culminates with Design Day, a college-wide event where teams from each engineering department present projects to engineering faculty members and industry leaders.

     

     

    Faculty/Staff: Mark Wasikowski
  • Smart Materials Laboratory

    The Smart Material Lab (SML) in the University of North Texas (UNT) is focused on design, analysis, and experiments for piezoelectric devices used for sensing, energy harvesting, and structure health monitoring applications. This group has conducted research in high-temperature material test methodology, modeling and experiment of novel sensing and energy harvesting mechanism, and structure health monitoring in harsh environments. The technology we have developed addresses critical national needs in the monitoring of power plants, manufacturing process and control, aerospace propulsion systems, oil and gas exploration, and other applications. The group’s research is funded by National Science Foundation (NSF), Army Research Office (ARO), Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Energy (DoE), Peterbuit, US Army Natic Program, USDA and UNT.

    Research Projects

    1) “Self-powered Wireless Through-wall Data Communication for Nuclear Environments,”  US Department of Energy
    2) “Energy harvesting nanorods-enhanced MEMS temperature-insensitive gas sensor for combustion monitoring and control,” National Science Foundation

    SML photo

    Faculty/Staff: Haifeng Zhang
  • Synthesis laboratory

    Room: D120

    The laboratory is equipped with 4 chemical hoods, centrifuge for nanoparticle, bioresin, polymer and fiber functionalization.

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