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Abstract Data driven advanced manufacturing research is dependent on access to large datasets made available from across the product lifecycle — from the concept design phase all the way down to end use and disposal. Despite such data being generated at a rapid pace, most product design data is archived in inaccessible silos. This is particularly acute in academic research laboratories and with data generated during product design and manufacturing courses. This project seeks to create an infrastructure that allow users (academia and the general public) to easily upload project data and related meta-data. Current manufacturing research must shift from siloed repositories of product manufacturing data to a federated, decentralized, open and inter-operable approach. In this regard, we build ‘FabWave’ a cyber-infrastructure tool designed to capture manufacturing data. In its first pilot implementation, we focused our attention to gathering information rich 3D Mechanical CAD data and related meta-data associated with them, with the intent to make it easier for users to upload and access product design data. We describe workflows that we have initially tested out within the two academic universities and under two different course structures. We have also developed automated workflows to gather license appropriate CAD assemblies from commercial repositories. Our intent is to create the only known largest available CAD model set within academia for enabling research in data-driven computational research in digital design, fabrication and quality control. 

Abstract For the bottom-up based stereolithography (SL) process, a separation process is required to detach the newly cured layer from the constrained surface in the fabrication process. Excessive separation force will cause damage to the built layers and the constrained surface. Different surface coatings, platform motions including tilting and sliding, and the utilization of oxygen-permeable films have been developed to address the separation-related problems. Among these approaches, the vibration-assisted (VA) separation method to reduce the separation force has limited study. The underlying mechanism of the VA separation-based method remains unexplored, and the best way to use VA separation in the bottom-up based SL process is still unclear. In this paper, a new VA separation design for the SL process is presented. A prototype system was built to study the VA separation mechanism. Experiments on the separation performance under different parameters, including vibration frequency, pre-stress level, and exposure area, were conducted. Based on the collected separation force data, an analytical model based on the mechanics of fatigue fracture was built. The separation behaviors related to different shape size and topology were also studied and compared. The results showed that the separation force in SL was significantly reduced using the VA separation-based method. Furthermore, the relationship between the separation force and the separation time conforms to the stress-based fatigue model. This study also provides insights on how to choose process parameters by considering the trade-offs between separation force and building efficiency.