1.

ELECTRICALLY ASSISTED MANUFACTURING

Electrically-assisted manufacturing (EAM) is a new concept for manufacturing processes

that utilize the electroplasticity of metals and their alloys. EAM is one of hybrid manufacturing
processes aiming to improve productivity, efficiency, and quality. The mechanical properties
of metals change temporarily or permanently under application of electric currents under
deformation. This phenomenon is often referred to as electroplasticity. The electroplasticity of
metals and their alloys has been investigated under various loading conditions including tensile,
compressive, bending, and hardness tests. Various EAM studies have shown that the material
properties of a metal can be modified simply by applying electricity to the metal during
deformation. Due to its technical advantages such as enhanced formability and reduced
springback, EAM is energy efficient with reduced process time. Recent developments in EAM
include various bulk deformation and sheet metal forming processes. This seminar will contain
details of electroplasticity, EAM process, and recently developed electrically assisted
manufacturing techniques. It will also include advantages of EAM over conventional processes
and its application.

KEYWORDS

Electrically Assisted Manufacturing Electroplasticity Mechanical properties

 2. PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE

Predictive maintenance evaluates the condition of equipment by performing periodic or

continuous equipment condition monitoring. The ultimate goal of the approach is to perform
maintenance at a scheduled point in time when the maintenance activity is most cost-effective
and before the equipment loses performance within a threshold. This results in, a reduction in
unplanned downtime costs because of failure, where for instance, costs can be in the hundreds
of thousands per day depending on industry. Time-based maintenance is labour intensive,
ineffective in identifying problems that develop between scheduled inspections, and so is not
cost-effective. The fundamental idea is to transform the traditional ‘fail and fix’ maintenance
practice to a ‘predict and prevent’ approach. To evaluate equipment condition, predictive
maintenance utilizes non-destructive testing technologies such as infrared, acoustic, vibration
analysis, sound level measurements, oil analysis, and other specific tests. A new approach in
this area is to utilize measurements on the actual equipment in combination with measurement
of process performance, measured by other devices, to trigger equipment maintenance. This
seminar will cover the existing as well as proposed techniques, their details, merits and
demerits and comparison of those techniques.

KEYWORDS

Predictive maintenance Time based maintenance Predict & prevent

 3. MAGNETIC COOLING

The refrigeration system is one of the most important systems in industry. Magnetic
refrigeration is an emerging, environment-friendly technology based on a magnetic solid that
acts as a refrigerant by magneto-caloric effect. The magnetocaloric effect is a magneto-
thermodynamic phenomenon in which a temperature change of a suitable material is caused by
exposing the material to a changing magnetic field. This is also known as adiabatic
demagnetization. In that part of the refrigeration process, a decrease in the strength of an
externally applied magnetic field allows the magnetic domains of a magnetocaloric material to
become disoriented from the magnetic field by the agitating action of the thermal energy
present in the material. If the material is isolated so that no energy is allowed to (re)migrate
into the material during this time, the temperature drops as the domains absorb the thermal
energy to perform their reorientation. The randomization of the domains occurs in a similar
fashion to the randomization at the Curie temperature of a ferromagnetic material, except that
magnetic dipoles overcome a decreasing external magnetic field while energy remains
constant, instead of magnetic domains being disrupted from internal ferromagnetism as energy
is added.

KEYWORDS

Magnetic refrigeration Magnetocaloric effect Magnetic field