so as to 和in order to的汉语意思应该是一样的“为的是，为了”。它们的英语功能也是一样的，都可以用来引导目的状语。它们的不同之处就在于so as to 不能用于句子的开头，在句子开头只能用in order to.

There is not really a big difference at all between the two. You can preety much use them interchangeably so as to sounds slightly more formal and old fashioned, dare i say slight more intelligent. .