Abstract: The concept of micro-scale and meso-scale mechanical manufacturing is originally generated to meet the increasingly growing demand for three-dimensional micro/meso-scale parts with higher relative accuracy in a wide range of materials. The micro/meso-scale parts are defined as having the size range between ten microns up to ten millimeters, and so falling between the domains of microelectronics-based MEMS technologies and conventional machining. However, the possibility of producing individual parts at these size scales is shown the limitations in current equipments and methods for dimensional metrology and characterization of both the parts themselves and machines used to produce them. For this reason, researchers are exploring the issues involved in the application of both new and traditional manufacturing technologies. Based on the workshop on micro/meso-mechanical manufacturing (M4), sponsored by the American National Science Foundation (NSF), the background and situation of the emerging micro-scale and meso-scale mechanical manufacturing technologies are introduced, the scientific, technological and commercialization challenges for the use of micro-scale and meso-scale mechanical manufacturing technologies, and the primary enabling technologies for the effective development and implementation of micro-scale and meso-scale mechanical manufacturing technologies are discussed, the major research and development issues that need to be addressed are given. Finally, the promising approaches and strategies to develop and demonstrate the feasibility of micro-scale and meso-scale mechanical manufacturing are proposed as well. It is hoped that this can provide some beneficial proposals for the research on micro-scale and meso-scale mechanical manufacturing technologies in China.

Key words: Mechanical manufacturing, Meso-scale, Micro-scale, Miniaturization, Precision, Three dimensions