LABORATORIES LINKED TO PPGEM/UFRN

The Technology Center counts with 1,800 m2 of administrative offices, classrooms, multimedia rooms for defenses and other academic activities, study room for students, auditoriums, rooms for incubators. Wi-Fi and high-speed internet are provided for all buildings.

In addition to the PGTEC, the PPGEM has an area located on the third floor of the CTEC (Engineering Technology Complex) building, which has an area of 8,000 m2, with a space dedicated to laboratories and professors' offices, in which the third floor of this building is exclusive to the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the PPGEM, with laboratories (please check the list below), meeting rooms, student rooms, rooms for most of the professors linked to the course.

Manufacturing Laboratory (LABMAN)

The Manufacturing Laboratory has an area of approximately 600 m2, which is subdivided into several areas. The laboratory has six individual rooms for professors from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, in addition to rooms for the secretary and laboratory coordination. The central part of the laboratory has conventional machine tools (horizontal lathes, planes, universal and pantograph milling machines, column drills, tool sharpeners, grinders and saws) and welding equipment (electric and oxy-acetylene welding machines, as well as a rectifier source) and two workbenches with six vises on each. The laboratory also has a CAx room with 32 computers (desktop model) mounted on individual tables, in addition to a multimedia projector and projection screen. There are also two air-conditioned study rooms (for undergraduate, master's and doctoral students) with benches on the sides with 10 computers (desktop model) and cabinets. The laboratory has an air-conditioned room for two CNC machine tools (a machining center and a lathe). This environment also has a data acquisition system, digital oscilloscope, benches and a computer for data acquisition and processing. It is important to highlight the presence of a classroom with capacity for 25 students, on the mezzanine of the laboratory, with a multimedia projector and projection screen. There are also two storage rooms (support material and tools).

Laboratory of Mechanical Testing

The laboratory is approximately 400 m2 and is located in the CT Technology Center. It has two universal testing machines, one from Shimatzu with a capacity of 300 kN and another from MTS hydraulics with a capacity of 100 kN. These machines are used to perform static tests (tensile, compression, three- and four-point bending, iosipescu and compression after impact) and cyclic tests (fatigue). The laboratory has impact equipment (Charpy and drop test) and hardness equipment (Brinnel, Rockwell and Vickers).

Laboratory of Renewable Energy

The Renewable Energy Laboratory has an area of approximately 45 m2, located in room 416 at CTEC (Engineering Technology Complex), and has tables and computers for students, with the following equipment: a 750 W wind turbine; four 1 x 1.2 m photovoltaic panels; a KONECO gas water heater, model KO500s; three standard computers; 3 tables with chairs; 2 cabinets and tools; an iron workbench for working with tools; a TELEGAN gas analyzer – model Tempest 100; a UNITRON LVD24 solar charge controller with a capacity of 30 A; and a UNITRON solar charge controller with a capacity of 80 W.

Laboratory of Computational Fluid Dynamics

The Computational Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (CFD Lab) is approximately 60 m2 and is located in room 409, on the third floor of the Engineering Technology Complex (CTEC) building. It is used to support research in the area of Heat Transfer and Computational Fluid Mechanics and Numerical Simulation. It has two I9 computers with 24 cores and 128 GB of RAM and four I7 computers with eight cores and 64 GB of RAM, all with ANSYS 2023.

Laboratory of Composites Simulation

The laboratory is approximately 75 m2 and is located in rooms 411 and 412 of the CTEC. It has ten tables, chairs and four cabinets for student use and the following equipment: a precision multimeter with 22 channels for measuring deformations; three I7 computers with 16 cores and 128 GB of RAM and four other I5 computers with 64 GB of RAM, where a licensed copy of ANSYS 2023, MarcTM (2022) and Matlab are installed on each computer. These computers are used to study various numerical problems, such as mechanical properties and stress concentration, behavior of composite materials and thin films, and also studies in the area of fluids and fluid-structure interactions. Along with this, the numerical analyses will be accompanied by probabilistic studies using probability distributions known from the literature (Weibull, Normal, among others).

Laboratory of Metals for Automotive Manufacturing

The laboratory is approximately 50 m2 and is located in the CT Technology Center. The laboratory has the following equipment: an Olympus optical microscope; two Hitashi and Zeiss scanning electron microscopes; a Shimadzu atomic force microscope; a Netzsch dilatometer and DTA; a Shimatzu X-ray diffractometer; and a Shimatzu X-ray fluorescence equipment.

Laboratory of Ceramic Materials and Special Metals (LABMCME)

The LabMCME has an area of approximately 80 m2 and meets the demands of research in ceramic materials and special metals, as well as refractory metals. The research lines developed in this laboratory deal with Powder Metallurgy and Sintering; Composite Materials and Hard Metals, as well as Ceramic Materials. Most of the studies deal with the consolidation or densification of materials by sintering in resistive or plasma furnaces. However, studies on the reduction of powders, as well as tungsten, and the production of carbides, such as tungsten, niobium and tantalum under a gaseous atmosphere.

Laboratory of Energy

The Laboratory of energy has an area of 800 m2 and is located in the CT/UFRN Technology Center, developing research on heat engines, refrigerators and other thermal energy conversion devices. The main equipment in the laboratory is: refrigerator teaching kits; air conditioning teaching kits with reversible hot-cold cycle; small heat engines; digital anemometers; digital psychrometers and thermometers; digital tachometers; thermal conductivity analyzer; temperature data acquisition system; digital rheometer with small sample adapter; thermostatic bath; vacuum pumps; digital scales; digital pressure gauges and vacuum gauges; thermographic camera; electronic test bench for Otto cycle fuel injectors (gasoline); electronic test bench for common rail injectors (diesel); pneumatics teaching bench; small gasoline generator set.

CAx Laboratory

The CAx Laboratory is approximately 50 m2 and aims to support computer-aided manufacturing projects. The laboratory consists of two rooms (407 and 408), which are located on the third floor of the Engineering Technology Complex (CTEC) building. The laboratory is based on the concept of lightweight terminals supported by a cluster of workstations. In this sense, there are approximately 30 lightweight terminals. These lightweight terminals allow the use of two operating systems, in addition to the software required for curricular components and research projects.

Laboratory of Plasma Materials Processing (Labplasma)

The Labplasma is located in the Industrial Technology Center (NTI) of UFRN. It currently has a useful area of 120 m². This laboratory will assist in activities aimed at studying the interface between endothelial cells and blood vessels. Currently, research on thermochemical treatments, surface engineering studies, and material development are carried out at Labplasma by students of the Mechanical Engineering and Materials Engineering courses. The main lines of work associated with the above-mentioned activities are: Thermochemical treatments of metallic materials; Plasma sintering; surface modification of polymeric materials; Use of Plasma Technology as a source of cancer control; production of metallic implants coated with hydroxyapatite; Deposition of thin films for application in photovoltaic cells. Electrophysical characterization of DBD plasma at atmospheric pressure. Some of the main equipment that are part of LabPlasma are: Optical microscope; Microhardness tester; 05 low pressure plasma reactors; 02 DBD plasma reactors; 01 Electrolytic Plasma Reactor; Optical spectrometers; Digital thermometers and thermocouples.

Laboratory of Metrology 

The Laboratory of Metrology has a physical area of 200 m2 and is located in the Industrial Technology Center (NTI) on the central campus of UFRN. It has unique measurement standards in the state and the possibility of calibrating several instruments used in industry, with specific air-conditioned rooms for measurement and calibration, a classroom, and a room for technical support and coordination. Several internships are offered to students, supporting research activities that require dimensional analysis, force, pressure and temperature. The main equipment in this laboratory is: Sets of ceramic and stainless steel standard blocks class '0' - Mitutoyo; Coordinate Measuring Machine - Mitutoyo QM 353; Profile Projector - Mitutoyo PH-A14; Calibrators for dial indicators and conventional feelers; Dynamometric rings; LVDT with 0.1 µm resolution - TESA Tesatronic; Microscope for tooling with profile projector - AusJena; Granite leveling with counter-point support – Mitutoyo; Standard cylindrical square; Micrometers for internal and external measurements - Mitutoyo; Universal calipers – Mitutoyo; Roughness meter – Taylor Hobson Surtronic; Circular shape meter – Taylor Hobson R125; Deadweight balances for pressure gauge calibration – DH Budenberg 1200; Standard pressure gauges up to 1000 bar - WIKA; Tilt gauges – Mitutoyo; Micrometric tower; Primary digital pressure calibration scale; Portable pressure calibrator – Duck GE; Load cells for compression and traction – HBM from 0.5 to 200 kN (12 units); Computers for use by students and teachers (9 units). In addition, the laboratory has teachers and engineers trained in instrument factories and large institutions in the country in the area of Metrology. Providing maintenance and calibration services to dozens of local, regional and national companies.

Laboratory of Composites

The laboratory has a physical area of 30 m2 and is located in the technology center. It is devised for carrying out research on composites. Some of the highlights include self-repairing composites, double-double composites, made from carbon fiber, Kevlar or glass. This laboratory has equipment for storage and manufacturing of composite laminates using autoclave, cold and hot pressing and vacuum molding.

Laboratory of Tribology

The laboratory has a physical area of 120 m2, is located in the UFRN CT technology center and its mission is to develop quality and relevant research in the area of Tribology and Contact Mechanics. The main lines of research are: Tribology in oil and natural gas systems, tribology of internal combustion engines, tribology of polymers and development of high-performance lubricants. This laboratory has the following equipment: Magnum Engineer pin-disc tribometer; HFRR (High Frequency Reciprocating Rig) tribometer from PCS Instruments; FZG tribometer used to assess wear (surface fatigue and scuffing) on gear teeth; Pantec durometer that performs Vickers, Brinell and Rockwell hardness tests. In addition to the equipment, this laboratory was responsible for granting two patents related to the lubricants area, one in 2020 (https://tribunadonorte.com.br/natal/equipamento-de-patente-da-ufrn-atesta-eficacia-de-oleos-lubrificantes-em-motores/) and another in 2022 (https://ufrn.br/imprensa/reportagens-e-saberes/66682/pitadas-de-girassol-na-engenharia-mecanica).

Laboratory of Hydraulic Machinery and Solar Energy

The laboratory has a physical area of 150 m2, is located in the technology center of the UFRN CT and its mission is to develop research in the area of renewable energy, prioritizing solar and wind energy by converting solar and wind energy into thermal energy. This laboratory has the following equipment: temperature meters (digital and infrared thermometers), digital multimeters, radiation meter, two meteorological centers (humidity, ambient temperature, wind speed, global solar radiation) with computer interface, bench drill, hand drill, jigsaw, tool sets, precision digital scale and three I5 computers.

Laboratory of Material Characterization

The laboratory has a physical area of 90 m2 and is located in the UFRN CT technology center, serving for the analysis and characterization of metallic, composite, polymeric and ceramic materials. Among the equipment available in the laboratory, the following stand out: Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope; X-ray Diffractometer; Optical Microscope; Benchtop Scanning Electron Microscope; Scanning Electron Microscope – FEG; Microprobe; Infrared Spectrometer; Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (flame); Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP); X-ray Fluorescence; Thermal Analysis System; Laser Granulometer; 10 kN Universal Mechanical Testing Machine; DMA and a Dilatometer.

Laboratory of Mobility (LABMOBIL)

The laboratory has a physical area of 180 m2 and is located in the technology center of the UFRN CT. It is devised for carrying out studies related to the design and construction of automotive and aeronautical vehicles, has a Car-Kará team that develops research and extension work, being responsible for two patents granted by INPE in 2022 related to hybrid UAVs and micro UAVs (https://bit.ly/3iawIAA and https://ufrn.br/imprensa/reportagens-e-saberes/65892/minidrone-no-ar) and several victories in national competitions (five times Aerodesign champion and twice Baja champion) and international (two times AeroDesegn East champion and once SAE Baja champion). Among the equipment available in the laboratory, the following stand out: a structure for the construction of UAVs powered by a track and electric motor, as well as UAVs powered by photovoltaic energy, as well as for the construction of an off-road vehicle.