Advanced Platform Technology Center
Advanced Manufacturing and Mechanical Reliability Center (AMMRC)
The Advanced Manufacturing and Mechanical Reliability Center was established in 1987 under the direction of APT Investigator Dr. John Lewandowski to provide advanced manufacturing (e.g., deformation processing, extrusion, forming, etc.) and mechanical characterization (e.g. mechanical testing, reliability testing, fatigue, etc.) expertise to the CWRU campus, medical, industrial, legal, outside university, and government laboratory communities. The center, housed in the Charles M. White Metallurgy building, currently maintains equipment valued in excess of $5.5M and has been accessed by the local, national, and international communities. The CWRU campus community can access the facility via the use of a valid CWRU university account number that will be charged at an internal rate for machine time, including set up and any technician time involved. Long term testing can be provided at pro-rated charges in consultation with the center directors. Arrangements can be made to train users on the equipment and reserve time for equipment use by contacting the center director.
In general, the center is capable of mechanically evaluating and deformation processing materials that range in size scale from the micrometer range up through bulk quantities. This unique facility enables mechanical characterization at loading rates as low as one micrometer/hour (i.e. rate of fingernail growth!) up through impact (e.g. 3-4 meters/ sec) at temperatures ranging from -196˚C (i.e. liquid nitrogen) up to 1400˚C. Hot microhardness testing up to 1000˚C is available. Monotonic as well as cyclic fatigue testing is possible in addition to evaluations of mechanical behavior and processing with superimposed pressures up to 2 GPa. Novel high-rate and multiple-deformation sequence forging simulations are possible with the use of a multi-actuator forging simulator, in addition to sheet metal forming experimentation with independent control of forming rate and blank hold down force. Hot extrusion is also possible at temperatures up to 900˚C on 12.6 mm diameter billets. Materials systems that have been investigated span the range of organic and inorganic materials, including metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, electronic materials, and biomedical materials systems.
