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Industrial Research and Assessment Studies (IRAS)

  1. Engineering And Science Services Center (ESS)
  2. Center Corporate Services
  3. Industrial Research and Assessment Studies (IRAS)

Engineering and Science Services (ESS) was established more than 30 years ago with the objective of strengthening the relationship between The American University in Cairo and the industrial community in Egypt and the Middle East. More than 600 public and private-sector companies, offices, banks and governmental agencies are now regular clients of ESS.

In addition to its extensive training and international certification programs, ESS offers a variety of industrial research and assessment studies to help companies meet the challenges of international markets. Such activities include:

  • Technical capacity building
  • Institutional capacity building
  • On-the-job training
  • Program/project management
  • Design management
  • Construction management and value analysis for engineering projects
  • Preparation and evaluation of project time and cost management plans
  • Preparation and evaluation of project quality, safety and risk management plans/systems
  • Preparation and evaluation of infrastructure/asset management plans/systems
  • Claim assessment, arbitration, formulation, evaluation and contract administration
  • Assessment of manufacturing facilities
  • Performance evaluation and fault diagnosis
  • Thermo-fluids and air conditioning system assessment
  • Failure analysis, troubleshooting and materials testing
  • Preparation and evaluation of project technical and economic feasibility studies
  • Environmental impact assessment
  • Modeling, computing and programming services
  • Computer-aided design
  • Materials testing and inspection facilities
  • Industrial research
  • Data acquisition and analysis
  • Patent development, registration, and marketing

ESS has a complete range of mechanical testing machines for metals, building materials, plastics and ceramics. Microscopic examination facilities include optical microscopes, a computer control image analysis system and a scanning electron microscope fitted with an X-ray microanalysis system. Nondestructive testing facilities include ultrasonic, X-ray radiography, magnetic particle, liquid penetrants and testing of plastics.

Extensive computer facilities are available for training at AUC, including a large number of Pentiums networked with each other and other engineering labs. A large number of software packages in various areas of engineering applications are available.

The computer-aided design (CAD) facility is currently equipped with an NT graphics workstation system and includes the latest CAD and analysis packages like IDEAS, COSMOSM, ANSYS and ALGOR.

The available traditional manufacturing processes include casting, rolling, welding, heat treatment, injection molding and machining. Our automated manufacturing laboratory is equipped with modern computer-controlled training facilities, including a CNC lathe, a CNC milling machine, an industrial-scale robot and a computerized wire machine.

Facilities include electromechanical transducers for static and dynamic measurements of pressure, temperature, displacement and force, computer-assisted data logging, transient capture of dynamic signals to assist in malfunction diagnosis, spectrum analysis equipment for vibration attenuation and field balancing, computer-based control, and noise measurement and analysis.

Facilities include a wide range of industrial measuring devices for temperature, pressure, flow rate and humidity; various refrigeration and air conditioning cycles; and fluid mechanics, power systems and computer-assisted data acquisition.

We carry out a variety of mechanical, chemical and physical tests on raw materials and end products. All our testing procedures are carried out according to ASTM standards. However, other standards can be used if we are supplied with the standard required.

The following are examples that we routinely carry out in our labs:

  • Tension and compression tests for:
    • Pipes
    • Welded sheets and/or plates
    • Steel wire
    • Cold-drawn steel bars
    • Polymers, plastics

 

  • Hardness test using Rockwell, Brinell, Vickers, Superficial and Shore methods
  • Fatigue test
  • Shear and torsion test
  • Bend and re-bend test
  • Surface roughness
  • Galvanization layer thickness
  • Chemical and wear resistance of metals
  • Chemical and physical properties of polymers
  • Microstructure and grain size analysis of metals and alloys
  • Specific gravity
  • Weld analysis
  • Water absorption
  • X-ray diffraction