Teaching Manufacturing Processes with Computer Animations

Manufacturing processes are often complex and difficult to explain, and expensive to present in a traditional teaching situation. In addition, long laboratory sessions are required to help students understand them. To address these challenges, computer-controlled animations and simulations are proposed for specific processes of interest.

Slide shows enhanced with this multimedia content have been incorporated into the Advanced Manufacturing course offered at École Polytechnique de Montréal. Six animations depicting chip formation, cutting forces, machine tool rigidity, plastic chip deformation, tool thermal behavior, and the electrical discharge process have been created. Macromedia Flash MXTM and Corel DrawTM were used to build the animations, which can be consulted at any time through the course website.

The interface is interactive, which allows the user to set various parameters and observe how they control the particular process under study.