Since the 1960s, when engineering science replaced practice-oriented teaching in most American engineering colleges, the teaching of dimensional tolerancing has disappeared as a part of the training of industrial design and manufacturing engineers. Manufacturers adjusted to this lack of training either by instituting in-house training programs or by subcontracting dimensional tolerancing work to specialty firms. When computer-aided design (CAD) prompted a return to the practice-oriented teaching approach in the mid-1980s, tolerancing was not restored as part of most curricula. Part of the reason for this has been the lack of a suitable advanced research/reference volume that treats recent improvements in tolerancing techniques in a manner compatible with CAD, computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), and coordinated measuring machine (CMM) based inspection.

Advanced Tolerancing Techniques is the first book to provide comprehensive coverage of new developments in geometric dimensional tolerancing and statistical tolerancing, and to focus on the use of these techniques in a CAD/CAM/CMM environment. Editor Hong-Chao Zhang has assembled a team of internationally recognized experts in every aspect of tolerancing theory, techniques, and applications. These authors explore and explain tolerancing from its history and fundamentals to state-of-the-art techniques. They also describe specialized applications of tolerancing in particular industries, including automobiles, electronics, and aerospace.

For product design, manufacturing, and R&D engineers, as well as production managers, this one-stop resource unifies the disparate aspects of the discipline and is the only source for completely up-to-date and authoritative information on the latest tolerancing techniques. It is also an important reference for graduate students and CAD/CAM/CAPP software developers.

Advanced Tolerancing Techniques covers the following topics:

• Parametric tolerancing
• Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing
• Tolerance chain/chart
• Statistical tolerancing
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• Standardized tolerancing
• Computerized tolerancing
• Tolerance representation within CAD models
• Automated tolerance analysis and synthesis
• Tolerance design/optimization
• Tolerancing issues for inspection planning
• Tolerance analysis for process planning and assembly
• CMM sampling and form-fitting