Preface
J. Lawrence and L. Li
The 37th International Manufacturing Automated Systems Technology Applications Design Organization and Management Research (MATADOR) Conference held in Manchester, UK from 25-27 July 2012. The MATADOR Conference was established in 1959, which makes it one of the longest running conferences in the field of manufacturing. It is a truly international conference and attracts high quality peer reviewed papers and delegates from countries all around the world.
The 37th International MATADOR Conference provided a forum for the presentation and discussion of original contributions to the principles, techniques and applications in the areas of Manufacturing Processes, Technology, Systems Design and Integration, Metrology, and Management. Special themes of the conference were Green/Sustainable Manufacturing, Composite Manufacturing, Solar Cell/Fuel Cell Manufacturing, Laser Processing and Micro/Nano Fabrication, with applications in the aerospace, bio-medical, food, energy, automotive, electronics, optics and process industries.
This special issue Lasers in Engineering is comprised of selected peer reviewed papers from the Laser Processing Section of the conference. The resulting issue is a marvellous compendium of seven articles that cover a range of topics, including laser bonding, laser welding, laser microwelding, laser melting, laser added manufacturing (LAM), laser ablation, and mathematical modelling of laser processes.
It has been a wonderful opportunity to edit this special edition. We are greatly appreciative of the work of the MATADOR Organizing Committee and the Session Chairs. Finally, we must acknowledge all the people around the world active in the exciting research area of laser engineering, whose work is advancing the field ever more so with every passing year – as evidenced by this special issue.
The 38th MATADOR conference will take place in Taiwan in March 2015 and we are looking forward once again to editing a special issue of Lasers in Engineering from selected papers from the Laser Processing Section of the conference.
Prof. Jonathan Lawrence
University of Chester, UK
Prof. Lin Li
University of Manchester, UK