Light-activated glue holds and releases workpieces in a flash
Penn State engineer has developed a new technology that uses light-activated glue to hold workpieces in position for machining, grinding and other manufacturing processes.
Dr. Edward De Meter, professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering, who developed the concept, says, "This new technology offers an alternative to mechanical clamping, the approach industries most often use. Capital investment for automated clamping is typically high and mechanical clamps can deform the workpiece, impede the manufacturing process and occupy processing space that could otherwise be used to hold additional workpieces. Adhering workpieces to a fixture avoids these problems and can lead to significant improvements in manufacturing productivity, part quality and part cost."
In the new approach, the workpiece is anchored to a steel fixture that conforms to the underside of the workpiece. At strategic locations on its surface, the fixture has holes capped with small, round, raised pads made of commercial sapphire, a relatively inexpensive ceramic material. These pads, which De Meter calls gripper pins, act as lenses or windows for ultra violet or infrared light used to set or destroy glue anchoring the workpiece.
To load a workpiece, dabs of adhesive are placed on the gripper pins and the workpiece is put on top. A quick zap of low intensity ultraviolet light from a UV spot lamp delivered through the gripper pins causes the adhesive to set and form strong, tough, stiff bonds with the workpiece in seconds. The yield strength of the cured adhesive bond is greater than 5500 pounds per square inch.
When machining or other processing is completed, infrared light delivered by a laser through the gripper pins destroys the adhesive bonds and releases the workpiece. The laser blast destroys the adhesive bonds in a fraction of a second without heat transfer to the fixture or the workpiece.
De Meter says, "The adhesive that we use with our prototype is a commercially available product used for a variety of assembly operations in the electro-optics industry.
"We add pigment to the adhesive so that it absorbs infrared light when hit with the laser," he explains. "The pigment enbrittles the adhesive and causes its yield strength to drop below 300 pounds per square inch. Usually the workpiece can be released from the fixture by hand or with a gentle tap from a rubber mallet."
De Meter notes that vacuum chucks and magnetic clamps are currently available as alternatives to mechanical clamping. However, vacuum chucks can only handle light loads and magnetic clamps can only function with workpieces made from iron-containing materials. Light Activated Adhesive Gripper (LAAG), as De Meter calls the new workholding technology, enables a much wider variety of workpieces to be held, especially those originated as castings and forgings.
The research on the new technology was supported, in part, by a Special Grant for Exploratory Research from the National Science Foundation.
The University has a patent pending on the new technology and it will be showcased by Penn State and Masterworkholding Inc., a company that has optioned the intellectual property, at the International Machine Tool Show (IMTS) in Chicago, Ill. from Sept. 8 to 15.
-
From lemons to lemonade: Reaction uses carbon dioxide to make carbon-based semiconductor,
32 comments
-
Thioridazine kills cancer stem cells in human while avoiding toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments,
3 comments
-
SpaceX private rocket blasts off for space station (Update),
42 comments
-
Climate scientists say they have solved riddle of rising sea,
31 comments
-
SpaceX capsule has 'new car' smell, astronauts say (Update),
4 comments
More news stories
Is a classical electrodynamics law incompatible with special relativity?
(Phys.org) -- The laws of classical electromagnetism that were developed in the 19th century are the same laws that scientists use today. They include Maxwell’s four equations along with the Lorentz la ...
May 24, 2012 |
4.7 / 5 (18) |
43
|
Landmark calculation clears the way to answering how matter is formed
(Phys.org) -- An international collaboration of scientists, including Thomas Blum, associate professor of physics, is reporting in landmark detail the decay process of a subatomic particle called a kaon – ...
May 25, 2012 |
4.3 / 5 (23) |
53
|
Lying in wait for WIMPs: Researchers seek to dramatically increase sensitivity of Large Underground Xenon detector
Although it's invisible, dark matter accounts for at least 80 percent of the matter in the universe. No one knows what it is, but most scientists would bet on weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs.
May 23, 2012 |
4 / 5 (7) |
18
|
Hawaii lab turns laser-powered bubbles into microrobots
(Phys.org) -- A team of scientists from the University of Hawaii are working on microrobots created from bubbles of air in a saline solution. The bubbles take on their title of “robots” as a laser ...
May 23, 2012 |
5 / 5 (4) |
2
|
Sound increases the efficiency of boiling
Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology achieved a 17-percent increase in boiling efficiency by using an acoustic field to enhance heat transfer. The acoustic field does this by efficiently removing vapor bubbles ...
May 24, 2012 |
5 / 5 (2) |
2
'Unzipped' carbon nanotubes could help energize fuel cells, batteries
Multi-walled carbon nanotubes riddled with defects and impurities on the outside could replace some of the expensive platinum catalysts used in fuel cells and metal-air batteries, according to scientists at ...
Change in developmental timing was crucial in the evolutionary shift from dinosaurs to birds: study
At first glance, it's hard to see how a common house sparrow and a Tyrannosaurus Rex might have anything in common. After all, one is a bird that weighs less than an ounce, and the other is a dinosaur that ...
Computer model used to pinpoint prime materials for efficient carbon capture
When power plants begin capturing their carbon emissions to reduce greenhouse gases – and to most in the electric power industry, it's a question of when, not if – it will be an expensive undertaking.
T cells 'hunt' parasites like animal predators seek prey, study shows
By pairing an intimate knowledge of immune-system function with a deep understanding of statistical physics, a cross-disciplinary team at the University of Pennsylvania has arrived at a surprising finding: T cells use a movement ...
Stunning image of smallest possible five-ringed structure
Scientists have created and imaged the smallest possible five-ringed structure – about 100,000 times thinner than a human hair – and you'll probably recognise its shape.
Land and sea species differ in climate change response: study
(Phys.org) -- Marine and terrestrial species will likely differ in their responses to climate warming, new research by Simon Fraser University and Australia’s University of Tasmania has found.
