Increased demand for MEMs and other micro-products has led to
rapid development of technol-ogies for micro-manufacturing
individual partsand systems, including the development of
newmanufacturing processes, tools and machinery.This book is a
collection of micro-manufacturingknowledge acquired by leading
experts over thepast decade that will not only inform on the
sub-ject of micro-manufacturing technologies andtheir industrial
uses, but also will likely inspirenew interest in a field which is
attracting hugeinvestments.
Unlike other books, some which are largelyfocused on the
micro-manufacturing processesonly, this book also covers
manufacturing chainsand manufacturing system issues, such as
han-dling, testing, robotics and automation.
Manufacturing practicians often have diffi-culty choosing the
optimum technology for a par-ticular product. Therefore, this book
also focuseson practical technology, suitable tools, equipmentand
utilization. Readers with a basic understand-ing of or experience
in mechanical, manufactur-ing, material, or product engineering
will feel verycomfortable with this material.
Areas of miniature- and micro-product manu-facturing that are
covered in this book include:micro-machining, micro-forming,
micro-replica-tion, lithography, thin film technology,
surfaceengineering, laser-processing,
micro-/nano-fibers,micro-tooling, micro-joining/assembly, as well
asmicro-handling, micro-robotics, inspection, test-ing and
diagnosis, and manufacturing execution
systems. Micro-mechanics analysis and sustain-ability of
micro-manufacturing technologies arealso included. Each chapter was
written eitherby a group of leading educator(s) or by experi-enced,
notable engineer(s) or researcher(s), in afield related to
micro-manufacturing. Most con-tributors were selected from leading
partnersof the recent/current EU-funded projects, includ-ing the
MASMICRO project, which was one ofthe largest
micro/nano-manufacturing projectsfunded through the EU fp6.
On behalf of all the authors, I would like toexpress my special
gratitude to Professor FrankTravis for his precious comments on all
draftchapters and careful checking of the final manu-scripts. I
would also like to thank Mr QuanrenZeng for re-preparing some
illustrations/draw-ings for some chapters and Dr Pascal Meyer
forproviding the artwork for the book cover. Finally,thanks are
expressed to all authors for their hardwork in preparing the book
chapters. Withouttheir support, this book would not be
possible.
Professor Yi Qin (BEng, MEng, PhD, CEng,MIMechE, FHeA, FIoN)
Department of Design, Manufactureand Engineering ManagementThe
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow G1 1XJ, United Kingdom
Tel: 0044 141 548 3130Fax: 0044 141 552 7986
Email: [email protected]
P R E F A C E
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