Thermal manufacturing processes represent a multi-disciplinary field incorporating the application of thermal, fluid, and material sciences, as well as systems design and control theory. Most thermal manufacturing processes have the following characteristics in common: high temperature, luminous, and thermal distortion. The extreme luminosity of the heat source in these processes often inhibits the thermal or geometrical process parameters from being monitored. This award is to acquire instrumentation for the establishment of a Thermal Manufacturing Processes Laboratory to support teaching and research activities in the area of machine vision systems for welding, rapid prototyping, and feud deposition modeling. The research project has a balance between theory and experiment, and will provide valuable mechanism to support both teaching and research activities.
