Manufacturing Machines and Equipment

The summary for the Manufacturing Machines and Equipment grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the National Science Foundation, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Manufacturing Machines and Equipment: Since the advent of computers, manufacturing has been undergoing a transition from a skill-based activity to a knowledge-based activity. This transition has increased product uniformity, enabled greater manufacturing flexibility and substantially reduced manufacturing costs. A goal of the Manufacturing Machines and Equipment program is to accelerate this transition by helping to meet the knowledge needs of next-generation of manufacturing systems. A second goal is to provide technologies that could reduce the detrimental environmental and societal impacts of manufacturing, including manufacturing facility footprint, energy consumption, use of scarce or hazardous substances, and waste products. Toward the accomplishment of these goals, a focus of the program is to support research leading to an understanding of the physics of manufacturing operations, leading to improved predictive models and improved manufacturing decision making.Key research topics include the following: * Understanding and modeling of fundamental processes, such as cutting, drilling, grinding, EDM, ECM, and the various additive processes related to solid freeform fabrication, * Utilization and integration of sensors into the manufacturing process, * Machine and manufacturing system operation and control, including closed-loop control of manufacturing machines, tool path generation and operation sequencing, * Parts feeding, holding and fixturing, * Metrology and quality control, and * Manufacturing machine design.Program interest spans the full range of size scales from critical dimensions on the order of one micron and up (for smaller part dimensions, please refer to the NanoManufacturing program). Interest includes manufacturing with new and nonconventional materials, and new and nonconventional methods of material removal or addition. Small group proposals are encouraged as a means of gaining multi-disciplinary insights into key issue areas.