Daniel Blood will defend his dissertation "Simulation, Part Path Correction, and Automated Process Parameter Selection for Ultrashort Pulsed Laser Micromachining of Sapphire" on Friday, June 27 in Larsen 234 at 1:00. Refreshments and drinks will be provided, and all are encouraged to attend.
Daniel Blood, Rob Damitz and Erica Gonzaga, co-founders of aqUV, developed a portable water purification device that uses ultraviolet light to sterilize water were awarded $25,000 for winning the UF Big Idea Business Plan Competition. More information can be found here.
IMG will present six papers at the upcoming Hilton Head Workshop in June 2014 (www.hh2014.org):
Daniel Blood will defend his dissertation proposal "Simulation, Part Path Correction, and Automated Process Parameter Selection for Ultrashort Pulsed Laser Micro-Machining of Sapphire" on Thursday, January 16 in MAE-B 210 at 1:00. Refreshments and drinks will be provided, and all are encouraged to attend.
As engineers seek to design more efficient gas turbines, they require a detailed understanding of fundamental thermal-fluid phenomena, as well as active control methods, in high-temperature environments. The high-temperature requirement is based on the increasing turbine inlet temperatures, which have risen to 1500 C, in combined cycle systems in order to improve turbine peak power and efficiency. The limited survivability of silicon-based MEMS sensors in high-temperature and harsh environments has caused researchers to investigate other materials for high-temperature MEMS-based sensors; more specifically sapphire.
Sapphire’s material properties make its entry into the world of high temperature sensors promising, but it also renders most traditional MEMS manufacturing methods impractical. Sapphire’s chemical inertness does not allow for effective dry or wet etching; consequently, a more effective method of machining the material is necessary. One potential solution is to use laser ablation, or material removal by vaporization due to localized heat input, to pattern the material. Femtosecond and picosecond pulsed lasers have shown the ability to reduce or eliminate the thermal damage issues of longer pulsed lasers. These lasers are classified as ultrashort pulse width because the duration of the pulse is so short that it does not allow for thermal conduction into the crystal lattice of the material.