Date Available

2-2-2014

Year of Publication

2014

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME)

Document Type

Master's Thesis

College

Engineering

Department/School/Program

Mechanical Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Dusan P. Sekulic

Abstract

Sustainable manufacturing involves utilizing energy resources efficiently. Currently, the state of sustainability for a given manufacturing process is described by most in a qualitative sense as opposed to using quantitative metrics. This thesis offers a segment of analysis needed to understand the state of sustainability in the context of energy resource utilization. This was accomplished by measuring the order of magnitude difference between the energy consumption of a manufacturing process vs. the theoretical minimum amount of energy required to complete the same task (aluminum T-joint bond). This analysis was completed for a TIG welding process and a controlled atmosphere brazing (CAB) process. Also, the energy Sankey diagram was constructed for the TIG welding process. The TIG welding process and CAB process consumed an average of 136.1 ± 16.5 kJ and 6,830 ± 77 kJ respectively to bond the same sample. The TIG welding process consumed O(102 kJ) more than the theoretical minimum amount needed to complete the same bond while the CAB process consumed O(104 kJ) more than the theoretical minimum. In the context of energy consumption, there are sizable margins for improvement for both metal joining processes analyzed in this study.

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