Strategies for optimal design and manufacturing of advanced materials under uncertainty

Two important considerations in the manufacturing of advanced materials, in general, are the manufacturing time and the reliability of the process in fabricating parts of consistent quality, in the face of inevitable process uncertainties. Both considerations manifest themselves in the overall manufacturing cost which is constantly sought to be minimized. The dissertation addresses both aspects of a materials fabrication process, with particular focus on the manufacturing of thermosetting matrix composites. A novel strategy of using embedded resistive heating is investigated for rapid curing of composites. A framework for stochastic analysis and design under uncertainty is developed and is applied to optimization of a composite materials fabrication process and of a MEMS device under uncertainty. Strategies for reducing the computation time related to the stochastic analysis and optimization are also investigated. ^ The major contributions offered by the dissertation include a new technique for rapid curing, the development of a framework for systematic analysis and design of processes and devices under uncertainty, which is the first systematic study in this regard, and new computational methods to accelerate computations associated with stochastic analysis and optimization under uncertainty.