TECHNOLOGY AND PRODUCTION SYSTEMS
Academic Year 2025/2026 - Teacher: SERGIO FICHERAExpected Learning Outcomes
The expected learning outcomes are:
- knowledge of the main manufacturing processes for plastic deformation, for foundry, for chip removal and for joining metal parts
- the ability to analytically solve technological problems in order to allow students to carry out an adequate constraints/opportunities analysis
- the ability to evaluate manufacturing processes in order to independently arrive at the selection and optimization of the most suitable process and materials
- the use of numerical methodologies for the analysis of plastic deformation and chip removal processes
The skills acquired are consistent with Goals 9, 11, and 12 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Course Structure
frontal or remote lessons
For each module, the development of application cases is envisaged using Excel and VBA
Required Prerequisites
Knowledge of basic mathematical notions is required for the calculation of derivatives and integrals
Attendance of Lessons
Detailed Course Content
| Module | Contents | Lecture Hours | Exercise Hours |
| 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF MANUFACTURING | 1.1 What is manufacturing? | 3 | 1 |
| 1.1.1 Definition of manufacturing | |||
| 1.1.2 Manufacturing industries and products | |||
| 1.1.3 Production capacity | |||
| 1.1.4 Materials used in manufacturing | |||
| 1.2 Manufacturing processes | |||
| 1.2.1 Processing operations | |||
| 1.2.2 Assembly operations | |||
| 1.2.3 Machinery and equipment | |||
| 2 FUNDAMENTALS OF METAL CASTING | 2.1 Overview of casting processes | 6 | 8 |
| 2.1.1 The casting process | |||
| 2.1.2 Sand casting | |||
| 2.2 Melting and pouring | |||
| 2.2.1 Metal melting | |||
| 2.2.2 Pouring the molten metal | |||
| 2.2.3 Engineering analysis of casting | |||
| 2.3 Solidification and cooling | |||
| 2.3.1 Solidification of metals | |||
| 2.3.2 Solidification time | |||
| 2.3.3 Shrinkage | |||
| 2.3.4 Directional solidification | |||
| 2.3.5 Riser design | |||
| 2.4 Foundry practice | |||
| 2.4.1 Furnaces | |||
| 2.4.2 Pouring, finishing, and heat treatment | |||
| 2.5 Quality of castings | |||
| 2.6 Foundry metals | |||
| 2.7 Product design considerations | |||
| 3 CASTING PROCESSES | 3.1 Sand casting | 6 | 6 |
| 3.1.1 Patterns and cores | |||
| 3.1.2 Molds and mold-making | |||
| 3.1.3 Pouring | |||
| 3.2 Other expendable-mold casting processes | |||
| 3.2.1 Shell molding | |||
| 3.2.2 Expanded polystyrene casting | |||
| 3.2.3 Investment casting | |||
| 3.2.4 Plaster mold and ceramic mold casting | |||
| 3.3 Permanent mold casting | |||
| 3.3.1 Basic permanent mold process | |||
| 3.3.2 Other permanent mold processes | |||
| 3.3.3 Die casting | |||
| 3.3.4 Squeeze casting and semisolid metal casting | |||
| 3.3.5 Centrifugal casting | |||
| 3.4 Foundry practice | |||
| 3.4.1 Furnaces | |||
| 3.4.2 Pouring, finishing, and heat treatment | |||
| 3.5 Quality of cast parts | |||
| 3.6 Foundry metals | |||
| 3.7 Product design considerations | |||
| 4 THEORY OF MATERIAL REMOVAL PROCESSES | 4.1 Overview of machining processes | 4 | 4 |
| 4.2 Theory of chip formation in machining | |||
| 4.2.1 Orthogonal cutting model | |||
| 4.2.2 Chip formation | |||
| 4.3 Force relationships and the Merchant equation | |||
| 4.3.1 Cutting forces | |||
| 4.3.2 The Merchant equation | |||
| 4.4 Power and energy relationships in machining | |||
| 4.5 Cutting temperature | |||
| 4.5.1 Analytical methods for calculating cutting temperatures | |||
| 4.5.2 Measurement of cutting temperature | |||
| 5 MACHINING PROCESSES | 5.1 Workpiece geometries in machining | 6 | 9 |
| 5.2 Turning | |||
| 5.2.1 Cutting conditions in turning | |||
| 5.2.2 Turning operations | |||
| 5.2.3 Engine lathe | |||
| 5.2.4 Other types of lathes and turning machines | |||
| 5.2.5 Boring machines | |||
| 5.3 Drilling | |||
| 5.3.1 Cutting conditions in drilling | |||
| 5.3.2 Drilling operations | |||
| 5.3.3 Drilling machines | |||
| 5.4 Milling | |||
| 5.4.1 Types of milling | |||
| 5.4.2 Cutting conditions in milling | |||
| 5.4.3 Milling machines | |||
| 5.5 Machining centers and turning centers | |||
| 6 BULK METAL FORMING PROCESSES | 6.1 Rolling | 3 | 2 |
| 6.1.1 Rolling mills | |||
| 6.2 Forging | |||
| 6.2.1 Open-die forging | |||
| 6.2.2 Impression-die forging with flash | |||
| 6.2.3 Flashless forging | |||
| 6.3 Extrusion | |||
| 6.3.1 Types of extrusion | |||
| 6.3.2 Analysis of extrusion | |||
| 6.3.3 Dies and extrusion presses | |||
| 6.4 Wire and bar drawing | |||
| Total | 28 | 30 |
Textbook Information
| Author | Title | Publisher | Year | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Groover | Tecnologia Mecccanica | Cittastudi | 2014 | 9788825173895 |
| Micari | Analisi e tecnologia delle lavorazioni meccaniche | Mc Graw Hill | 2012 | 8838667594 |
Course Planning
| Subjects | Text References | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF MANUFACTURING | |
| 2 | 2 FUNDAMENTALS OF METAL CASTING | |
| 3 | 3 CASTING PROCESSES | |
| 4 | 4 THEORY OF MATERIAL REMOVAL PROCESSES | |
| 5 | 5 MACHINING PROCESSES | |
| 6 | 6 PROCESSI DI DEFORMAZIONE PLASTICA MASSIVA DEI METALLI |
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
The exam is only written with quantitative and non-quantitative questions. The test lasts 60 minutes. Usually 6 questions. Each question is associated with a maximum score. The overall grade is the sum of the scores for the individual questions. Scores are announced at the beginning of the assignment. At the end of the course, training tests for the exam task are carried out.
Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises
1 Indicate with a indicate with drawings the steps in the production sequence in Permanent-‐Mold Casting Processes.
2 Indicate at least 4 characteristics for the design of the pattern.
3. Indicate the difference between turning and orthogonal cutting. Drawn the two operation and sign the parameters.
4 Indicate at least 4 characteristics of the materials for turning tools.
5 A cylindrical roughing of 50 steel bars must be performed on the lathe. The caratheristics of the bar: length 500 mm, diameter 134 mm, final diameter 130 mm, Kso 1200, z 0.197, angle of attack ꭓ= 90. The absorbed power is equal to 6 KW. The tool change time is 5 min (C 350 m / min, n 0.25) Calculate the the total minimu time to perform all bars and the total energy consumed.
6
| Considering the cavity in figure calculate | |||
| a | |||
| a | |||
| 4a | a | ||
| a | |||
| a | a | ||
| the time to fill | |||
| the time to solidification | |||
| the dimension of the casting | |||
| Mold constant | Cm | 0,01 | min/mm^2 |
| Area on the base of the sprue | Ab | 180,00 | mm^2 |
| Solidification shrinkage | 0,03 | % | |
| Cooling shrinkage | 0,01 | % | |
| Gravitational acceleration | g | 9.816,00 | mm/s^2 |
| Sand casting | n | 2,00 | |
| Dimension | a | 60,00 | mm |