Manufacturing trends in precision engineering

摘要

A number of ultra precision machine tools have been developed over the last twenty years in order to meet the ever growing demand for reduced dimensional tolerances, together with high surface and sub surface integrity. Miniaturisation has been a prime driving force for developing such machines for a range of industries, including the semiconductor, optical communication, computer peripheral, medical industries, etc. Additionally, critical macro components for the aerospace, automotive and other industries depend increasingly on higher geometric accuracies and micro or nano structured surfaces to meet the growing need for improved performance and reliability, improved energy efficiency and a cleaner environment. For many industries the above requirements, coupled with the advent of new advanced materials, including glasses and ceramics, is leading to the capabilities of conventional machining methods and machine tools being eclipsed by new processes and machine systems currently at the research stage. This paper discusses some of the 'micro' and 'nano' products emerging to meet the above requirements, and implications this is having on the development of new processes and machines.