Lab Facilities
1- COMPUTER INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING (CIM)/ MICRO CIM
Purpose of the Lab
Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) is one of the current concepts applied in the industry for automatic manufacturing. CIM promises to be the future of an advanced manufacturing setup where machines can communicate with their human/computer operators through PLC’s and tends to provide an efficient and optimized solution for job monitoring and handling.Quality control station helps the station manager through centralized system of computer systems integrated with machines via plc, communicate job acceptance and rejection through a central manager. The whole experience of CIM and its miniature version Micro-CIM enables students to learn the basics of an automated working environment and also teaches them to communicate with the machines through plc programming and job preparation on cnc machines through G-codes and M-codes.
Lab Incharge
Dr Shahid Ikramullah Butt
drshahid@smme.nust.edu.pk
Facilities Available
Current CIM Lab comprises of CIM and Micro CIM setup with ASRS, Milling and turning machines and conveyor system
2- METALLOGRAPHY
Purpose of the Lab
The scope of the metallography lab is to explore the effect of microstructure of processed materials. Students can compare the effect of various heat treatment cycles on the microstructure of metallic materials.
Lab Incharge
Dr Shahid Ikramullah Butt
drshahid@smme.nust.edu.pk
Facilities Available
The metallography lab equipment includes high quality optical microscope, automatic and manual grinding and polishing machine and sample mounting apparatus.
Automatic grinding polisher and mounting setup
Optical Microscope
3. HEAT TREATMENT
Purpose of the Lab
The scope of the heat treatment laboratory at DME SMME is to explore the effect of heat treatment on different metals such as metals and ceramics etc.
Lab Incharge
Dr Najam Ul Qadir
najamul.qadir@smme.nust.edu.pk
Facilities Available
The heat treatment equipment includes temperature control furnaces for precise heating and cooling rate control to control microstructures in metals. The setup also includes an optical microscope to display the microstructure revealed after grinding, polishing and etching of metals. SMME has the expertise to work with various metals including Steels, Titanium, Aluminium Alloys and super alloys (such as Nickel and Titanium based alloys).
4. RAPID PROTOTYPING (RP)
Purpose of the Lab
Rapid Prototyping (RP) is the layer-by-layer fabrication of physical three dimensional models directly from a Computer Aided Design (CAD) model through a very efficient and highly flexible manufacturing process using Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) environment. This Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology is capable of printing out concepts and ideas into Three-Dimensional (3D) physical models. This additive manufacturing technique allows us to build complex geometries and shapes with ease which is otherwise very difficult or impossible to be produced using conventional manufacturing techniques.
All of the RP processes produce parts from CAD model. These CAD model is tessellated and sliced into thin sections, which are then produced by different RP technologies. The required supports for the part are generated automatically. The post processing step involves removal of supports and finishing. The figure below shows the compete process of RP.
Lab Incharge
Dr Muhammad Salman Khan
muhammad.salman@smme.nust.edu.pk
Facilities Available
The RP lab at NUST School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering (SMME) is equipped with a 3D digitizer (Scanner) from Konica Minolta, a FAROARM Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) and a STRATASYS Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) machine. This equipment provides the complete Reverse Engineering (RE) and Rapid Prototyping (RP) solution to the industry.
5. CNC MACHINING
Purpose Of The Lab
The heart of any manufacturing facility is the machine which produces basic mechanical parts. These machines could aid in producing a semi-finished or fully finished product. Precise machining requires extreme skill with tools, machine and the material of the job. With the inception of Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machines into manufacturing setup, precise and reliable machining without human intervention during the machining process has enabled reduction in operational hazards and in job time through automated machining and tool changing.
Lab Incharge
Dr Shahid Ikramullah Butt
drshahid@smme.nust.edu.pk
Facilities Available
CNC Lab currently houses two CNC machines:
- ONE 2-Axes CNC Lathe with automatic 8 tool turret. [Max Size: Dia 300mm x 600 mm length]
- ONE 3-Axes CNC Milling with automatic 24 tool changer. [Max Size: 600 x 600 x 1000 mm]
Both machines enable students to perform machining operations, whereas enable research students to phenomena advanced machining such as cryogenic machining and high speed machining. The department also wishes to provide industrial support to allied industries and training for professional development.
6. COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN(CAD)
Purpose Of The Lab
CAE lab is a facility that provides computing resources for SMME. These resources have been made accessible not only from our labs 24 hours a week, but from anywhere on campus and from any computer over the internet. With the help of this facility students can work on their personal computer from any location and can use all packages installed at CAE lab. Supported tools include VNC and SSH. Packages installed include Octave, Pro-E and LabView.
Lab Incharge
Dr Shahid Ikramullah Butt
drshahid@smme.nust.edu.pk
Facilities Available
COMPUTER SPECS:
Dell OptiPlex 9020: INTERL CORE i7, 8GB RAM, Dedicated ATI Radeon 1GB graphics