DMM
Design, Materials &
Manufacturing
Dan Pletta
Professor
Mehdi
Ahmadian
DMM
Coordinator
The Design, Materials, and Manufacturing (DMM) thrust
area focuses on all elements of engineering design and
advanced manufacturing. Interdisciplinary interests span
across areas of design methodology, design optimization,
and advanced manufacturing and materials processing.
Faculty and students in the DMM thrust area are discovering
novel theories, tools, and technologies that will advance society through realization of more functional and economical
materials, machines, and manufacturing processes across a
wide variety of market applications.
DMM faculty and students, including our affiliate faculty,
conduct fundamental and applied research in areas including: mechanical design, rapid prototyping, virtual prototyping, and additive manufacturing processes. Our analytical,
computational, and experimental research covers multiple
scales (from nano, to micro, to macro mechanics) and multiple material systems (including polymers, metals, ceramics,
composites, and biomaterials). We have state-of-the-art
capabilities for experimental work in additive manufacturing
and are conducting research in enhancing these processes
and manufacturing methods.
Design and materials are fundamentally linked to all other
areas of mechanical and nuclear engineering. Consequently,
DMM has close synergy with all other ME thrust areas. Collaboration in bio-inspired materials and nano-scale modeling
with BMNS, materials development for energy systems with
EES, design and manufacturing automation with RADS, and
nuclear materials research with NES are regularly pursued
within the department. The DMM group has extensive collaboration with other departments in the College of Engineering and other colleges at Virginia Tech, as well as several
industries and government agencies.
Beyond its research efforts, the DMM group plays a major
role in the Department’s teaching efforts, through the sophomore and senior capstone design courses, and a number of
technical electives on contemporary topics related to design,
materials, and manufacturing at undergraduate and graduate levels.
RESEARCH
APPLICATIONS
Additive Manufacturing |
Computer Aided Design (CAD)
and Finite Element Analysis
(FEM) | Design Optimization |
Rapid Prototyping | Virtual
Prototyping
This nano-scale tube is
the foundational building
block for a new generation
of additive manufacturing
processes that allow scaling
of more than seven orders of
magnitude - enough to allow
construction at the centimeter level. This breakthrough
technology paves the way
for enormous advances in a
variety of energy and sensor
related industries.