微米和中间尺度机械制造

微米和中间尺度机械制造的概念源于对广泛材料范围内的精密三维微米和中间尺度零件日益增长的需求。微米和中间尺度零件是指尺寸在0.01～10mm范围的微小零件,因而处于基于微电子的MEMS技术与传统的机械加工技术之间的领域。然而,目前的设备性能和尺寸计量方法生产单个微米和中间尺度零件的能力已经显示出局限性。因此,许多研究者正在探索有关新的或传统的机械制造技术在该尺度的应用问题。基于美国国家科学基金会主办的微米和中间尺度机械制造专题讨论会,介绍了日渐显现的微米和中间尺度机械制造技术的背景和现状,讨论了其应用的科学、技术和商业化挑战,以及其有效开展和实现的主要使能技术,给出了需要广泛研究与发展的几个主要方面问题。最后,提出了开展和证明微米和中间尺度机械制造可行性研究比较有希望的方法和策略。以此希望能对我国微米和中间尺度机械制造技术领域的研究有所启迪。

MICRO-SCALE AND MESO-SCALE MECHANICAL MANUFACTURING

The concept of micro-scale and meso-scale me- chanical manufacturing is originally generated to meet the in- creasingly growing demand for three-dimensional mi- cro/meso-scale parts with higher relative accuracy in a wide range of materials. The micro/meso-scale parts are defined as having the size range between ten microns up to ten millimeters, and so falling between the domains of microelectronics-based MEMS technologies and conventional machining. However, the possibility of producing individual parts at these size scales is shown the limitations in current equipments and methods for dimensional metrology and characterization of both the parts themselves and machines used to produce them. For this reason, researchers are exploring the issues involved in the application of both new and traditional manufacforing technologies. Based on the workshop on micro/meso-mechanical manufacturing (M~4), sponsored by the American National Science Foundation (NSF), the background and situation of the emerging mi- cro-scale and meso-scale mechanical manufacturing technolo- gies are introduced, the scientific, technological and commer- cialization challenges for the use of micro-scale and meso-scale mechanical manufacturing technologies, and the primary ena- bling technologies for the effective development and imple- mentation of micro-scale and meso-scale mechanical manufac- turing technologies are discussed, the major research and de- velopment issues that need to be addressed are given. Finally, the promising approaches and strategies to develop and demon- strate the feasibility of micro-scale and meso-scale mechanical manufacturing are proposed as well. It is hoped that this can provide some beneficial proposals for the research on mi- cro-scale and meso-scale mechanical manfacforing technolo- gies in China.