Call for papers: Micromachining Systems and Tailored Surfaces

http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=578

Call for papers: Micromachining Systems and Tailored Surfaces

A special issue of the International Journal of Surface Science and Engineering (IJSurfSE)

Important Dates
Submission: 30 June 2007
Decision: 31 August 2007
Revised manuscripts: 30 September 2007

The role of finishing and micromachining processes as techniques for removal of burrs, developing edge contour, and smoothing and polishing parts has been well established and documented for many years. These processes have been used in a wide variety of part applications to promote safer part handling (by attenuation of sharp part edges), improve the fit and function of parts when assembled, and produce smooth, even microfinished surfaces to meet either functional or aesthetic criteria or specifications.

In contrast, only in the last years, processes for developing specific edge, special surface texture patterns and/or tailored surface conditions on components are widely spreading in industries as diverse as the jewellery, dental, and medical implant industries on up through the automotive and aerospace industries. Accordingly, less well known and less clearly understood is the role that specialised variants of micromachining and finishing technologies can engage in extending the service life and in specialising the performance of critical support components or tools in highly demanding manufacturing or operational applications. Besides, many doubts and uncertainties still affect the understanding of basic concepts as well as of most of the leading processes mechanisms.

This is thus the context in which scientists have always been moving to improve standard micromachining techniques and define new methods to tailor parts surface conditions so as to enhance their performance. An emergent journal as IJSurfSE would not be complete without a depiction of the present status of micromachining technologies and their applications. So, the purpose of this special issue is to present a collection of examples illustrating the more recent and unprecedented developments of surface micromachining technologies and their applications to surface science research. To serve as a useful forum to discuss the capabilities and limitations of the techniques, the scope of this special issue is to be as broad as possible, covering all relevant aspects of micromachining as well as of the definition of tailored and functionalised surfaces.

For more information, please see the Journal Call for Papers website.