Instrumentation Development Group

The Instrumentation Development Group represents a broad collective of researchers interested in the development of instrumentation systems for the advancement of scientific and engineering technologies. Particular emphasis of our group is the adoption and application of new technologies for the creation of new scientific tools and industrial processes.

If you are a scientist or engineer with a problem that requires instrumentation or processes that do not exist, or for which current solutions are inadequate, this could be an exciting opportunity to get involved.

Our group currently occupies two, vibration-isolated, laboratory facilities (one of which is temperature and humidity controlled), within the Center for Precision Metrology housed on the ground floor of the Duke Centennial Building at UNC Charlotte.

This group was initiated in 1994 by Professor Stuart Smith.

Research

The Instrumentation Development Group develops innovative technologies that advance precision engineering, manufacturing, and scientific discovery. Our research combines hands-on engineering with cutting-edge instrumentation to solve real-world challenges in areas such as additive manufacturing, particle manipulation, vortex machining, and X-ray interferometry. Students gain opportunities to work on impactful research, develop advanced technical skills, and contribute to technologies shaping the future of engineering.

Instrumentation Development Group 1

1/20 grain/20mL Particle Concentration , 266Hz Frequency, 500um Stand Off.

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Instrumentation Development Group 2

0.25in Reservoir Diameter, 0.23in Reservoir Height, 100um Stand Off, 5/20 grain/20mL Particle Concentration , 261 HZ Frequency, 105 Vpp Amplitude.

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Instrumentation Development Group 3

0.25in Reservoir Diameter, 0.25in Reservoir Height, 10/20 grain/20mL Particle Concentration , 262 HZ Frequency, 135 Vpp Amplitude.

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Vortex Machining

The goal of this research is to obtain an understanding of a new, nanometer level, surface removal process that utilizes locally induced vortices of polishing slurry. These vortices are produced by a micrometer scale oscillating fiber immersed in the fluid near to the surface to be machined, the vortices being stationary relative to the probe. Probes of varied diameters (7 µm to 400 µm), oscillating at high frequencies (over 100 Hz to 10’s of kHz) will produce localized vortices of varying size and magnitude resulting in Material Removal (MR) footprints with lateral dimensions of less than a millimeter. The size of the process footprint will be controlled by the amplitude and frequency of the driving oscillations and the orientation of the probe with respect to the workpiece. The subaperture processes involved primarily find application in the optics community where they are most commonly used for selective material removal in localized regions for form correction. However, it is possible that this process can be extended for surface machining in holes, trenches and other complex geometries thereby expanding to machining of micrometer scale components for MEMS amd meso-scale assemblies. The MR function describes how the removed material varies with tooling radius or coordinates. Deriving this function is critical in fully understanding the MR process. The goal of this current research project is to identify and quantify critical process parameters and their impact on the MR footprint and surface quality through a combined experimental and theoretical approach. This will be achieved by:

Using an analytical model to predict vortex patterns and velocities associated with different fiber sizes and drive frequencies.
Experimentally determine the correlations between vortex dynamics and shapes and the resulting MR footprints.
Further investigate the impact of other boundary conditions on the MR function.
Investigate the significance of the abrasive slurry chemistry on materials such as silicon and silica.