Mechanical Engineering Student Builds and Tests Electrical Discharge Machining Setup through UC's Protégé Program

Engineering is cross-disciplinary, requiring multiple facets of science and technology. After a summer of research, Nathan Moormann (mechanical engineering ’22) knows this more than ever. Moormann has spent all summer building and testing a setup for electrical discharge machining, a nontraditional machining process that uses electrical sparks via a tool to remove material rather than cutting with traditional metal drills.

Moormann is participating in the University of Cincinnati (UC) Protégé Undergraduate Research Program, which gives outstanding engineering students the opportunity to conduct research alongside UC professors the summer after their first year. He is working at the UC Micro and Nano Manufacturing Laboratory alongside two graduate students and his mentor, mechanical engineering associate professor Murali Sundaram, PhD.

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is an advantageous manufacturing process because of its non-contact capabilities – users can drill on fragile materials that normally break during conventional drilling.  

Moormann’s first task of the summer was to build an electrical discharge machining setup in-house. Under the guidance of his mentors, he quickly learned about the foundational components that enable the positioning, sparking and monitoring in the EDM process. He sketched designs in his lab notebook, gathered the necessary components from the laboratory and machine shop and combined everything into a functioning setup.

As is the case with most engineering projects, completion required skills from several disciplines of engineering. In this case, the EDM setup required a computer-based control system that could rapidly sense and control positioning in response to high voltage signals. Moorman picked up these advanced skills in a matter of weeks. He wired the necessary electronics to the EDM setup, integrated them with a PC through a micro-controller and controlled the entire setup with software that he wrote from scratch.

“The circuitry was the single greatest challenge,” says Moormann. “But getting to know circuits and dealing with those issues was also one of the more meaningful aspects of the project.”

Without an extensive background in coding or circuitry, Moormann successfully overcame these obstacles and built a working electrical discharge machining setup. While Moormann worked through many of these issues on his own, he was thankful for the guidance and mentorship provided by the graduate students in the lab.

“It’s been a really positive experience learning every day from other students during the project,” says Moormann.

Moormann has already started running tests on the machine he built, rotating the tool at different speeds and determining its effects on material removal rate and tool wear. He is compiling information into a formal report to present at the end of the semester.

The Protégé Program has been a unique experience for Moormann, allowing him to see the culture and day-to-day operations of a research lab. He never considered a career in research – or even research-based graduate work – but after a summer in the lab, it is certainly on his radar.

This fall, Moormann is moving to an industry position for his first cooperative education (co-op), but he’s willing to keep his options open for future research – the Protégé Program has underscored the importance of remaining open to new opportunities. While on co-op and in his future career, he knows the skills learned from running tests, analyzing results and presenting ideas will be greatly beneficial in the engineering industry.

No matter where Moormann ends up, one thing is clear: the Protégé Program gave him valuable research experience helping better prepare him for his engineering education, co-op rotations and career moving forward.