| | February 13, 2006 - Volume 3, Number 4
- - - - - - - - IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT - - - - - - - - -
Jamie Brooks, Manager of Marketing and Communications for the National Institute for Aviation Research has recently decided to pursue a new employment opportunity. All future NIAR e-bulletins will come from Tracee Friess, tracee.friess@wichita.edu. Please add this e-mail address to your list of safe senders.
Lockheed Martin engineers utilize NIAR's Advanced Joining Technology Lab
| Researchers with Lockheed Martin’s Michoud Assembly Facility, the manufacturer of the Space Shuttle’s External Tank, began working in the Advanced Joining Technology Laboratory at Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research in September after the Lockheed Martin facility suffered severe damage from Hurricane Katrina.
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When the hurricane caused parts of the Lockheed Martin plant inNew Orleans to shut down in late August, Jennifer Takeshita, an engineer with Lockheed Martin, contacted NIAR Research Associate Bryan Tweedy to find out if her team could continue their research at NIAR.
Takeshita said NIAR was a natural choice because she knew Tweedy and because the NIAR’s Advanced Joining Technology Lab has the same MTS Systems Corporation FSW machine as Lockheed Martin’s New Orleans plant.
Engineers Takeshita, Bob Anderson and Duy Pham are completing Phase I of a program for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration using friction stir welding to develop technology enabling the design of an ultra lightweight, reliable, flexible and affordable cryogenic propellant tank.
Though the bulk of Lockheed Martin’s work at NIAR was completed in late November and the Lockheed engineers returned to New Orleans, a portion of the study continued at NIAR under the supervision of NIAR Research Associates Bryan Tweedy and Christian Widener. This portion is now nearing completion.
“I was impressed with NIAR,” Takeshita said. “The experience was good and the people were very accommodating.”
The Advanced Joining Technology Lab at NIAR has the capability to perform advanced FSW research and prototyping including developing structures with complex contour joints in an array of materials. FSW is emerging as a viable manufacturing process with many applications for joining metals and plastics, and is supported by the interest of local aviation industry. For more information about NIAR's Advanced Joining Technology Lab, visit our website.
Advanced Joining Lab receives NSF grant
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| The 2006 National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) meeting was held January 11-13 in Arlington, Va. where it was announced that the Advanced Joining Technology Lab at Wichita State University's National Institute for Aviation Research was approved for an I/UCRC planning grant.
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The $10,000 planning grant will be used for the lab to begin preparing to become an affiliate university in the NSF I/UCRC Center for Friction Stir Processing (CFSP). The lab also received endorsement by the current university and industrial members of the center for two research projects, "Development of a Performance Specification Model for Friction Stir Welding and Processing" and "Development of Process Specification Development Guides for Industrial Partners."
"The next major step in the planning stage is to recruit industrial members and potential research projects that represent their interest in friction stir welding," Lab Director Dr. Dwight Burford said. "We are currently obtaining input on these and other possible projects that could be of benefit to industry."
Burford attended the meeting along with 141 attendees, which included center directors and other representatives, NSF staff and center evaluators from 41 active centers, 3 graduated centers and 15 prospective centers.
The meeting was arranged to maximize interaction between centers to enhance the exchange of information on science topics, funding, marketing and how to become self-sustaining centers (operating based solely on industry support – without NSF funds).
The CFSP currently has four affiliate universities, the South Dakota School of Mines, the University of South Carolina, Brigham Young University and the University of Missouri–Rolla.
Its mission is "to advance, develop and promote research into the principles and technology of Friction Stir Processing science and engineering through research, development, education, and technology exchange among academic, industry, and government entities. It is also the mission of the center to increase the quantity and quality of the professionals prepared to work in the area; to involve the faculty of the University(s) in research in areas of common interest to Sponsors and the University(s); and to perform research which will allow global Friction Stir Processing facilities to be competitive in the world economy."
To learn more about the CFSP visit its website.
Those who would like to provide input on the lab's projects may contact Dwight Burford.
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