Manufacturing Processes and Systems Laboratory

Welding Research And Development Applied Machine Vision
High Power Laser Processing Solid Freeform Fabrication

Welding Research And Development Laboratory

The mission of the Welding R&D laboratory is to promote high quality research and technological innovations in arc and plasma welding, assist industry in implementing intelligent controllers for welding processes, and provide graduate and undergraduate education in metal joining technology. The laboratory is equipped with three fully computerized welding cells (for gas tungsten arc welding, gas metal arc welding, and plasma arc welding).

Applied Machine Vision Laboratory

Latest technologies in image sensing, image acquisition, and image processing are integrated into systems to provide direct solutions for manufacturing industry problems. The laboratory is equipped with ultra-high shutter speed camera assisted with pulsating nitrogen lasers, high frame rate CCD camera, three-dimensional machine vision system based on the structured light, Syncro Vision camera, and three high-speed high-power image acquisition and processing systems.

High Power Laser Processing Laboratory

The laboratory will be the only place in the Metroplex area where researchers, engineers and students can work and get the first hand experience on application of high energy light in processing different type of materials. A focused laser can melt, vaporize or change the surface material properties of metallic materials in fraction of second. This qualifies the laser beam as the only tool with applications in all main categories of manufacturing technology, ranging from primary forming, cutting, drilling, joining, coating and material property modification. The laboratory is equipped with a high power MultiWave Nd:YAG laser with a power of 1000W in CW mode and 2500W in pulsating mode, three-axis CNC positioning system and powerful data acquisition system for control and diagnostics.

Solid Freeform Fabrication Laboratory

The field of rapid protoyping by Solid Freeform Fabrication is a relatively recent by-product of the computer integrated manufacturing revolution. SFF processes are additive in nature in that three-dimensional CAD geometry is fabricated by successively layering or adding two-dimensional slices of the solid In this laboratory high-power laser and welding processes are used to make structurally sound metallic functional parts, molds and dies.

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