Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/K29142/01
Title:	LASER ENGINEERING FOR MANUFACTURING APPLICATIONS (LEMA - INTEGRATED LASER MANUFACTURE
Principal Investigator:	Steen, Professor W
Other Investigators:	Watkins, Professor KG Shenton, Dr AT Lee, Professor C
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:	BAE Systems BNFL Delcam International plc Pre Nexus Migration Rolls-Royce Plc (UK)
Department:	School of Engineering
Organisation:	University of Liverpool
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	13 May 1994	Ends:	12 October 1998	Value (£):	543,414
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Lasers & Optics
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Aerospace, Defence and Marine Manufacturing
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
The Laser Engineering and Manufacturing applications (LEMA) project is a collaborative programme involving three university groups and a number of companies, aimed at developing new device/process technology for advanced industrial material processing. Each group will undertake generic research in its own area (lasers, fibres, processes) while collaborating in a series of applicaiton-specific projects. The laser material processing stream (activity stream C) will concentrate on laser integration into manufacturing machinery and process sequences, building on the in-house knowledge of processes and the technology in optical design, fibres and lasers available within this collaboration. In particular, project C.1 will investigate the manufacutring potential for using the laser as a cutting, welding, cladding, heat treatment and/or bending tool within the standard mechanical tooling set of a machining centre and coupling this to a computing system capable of identifying the shape and position of the workpiece, calculating process paths, and performing the process (real-virtual-real manufacture). The aim is to produce a one bit manufacturing process. This involves research into optical design, fibre optic power insertion and monitoring techniques, multitool processing and sequence options, 3D scanning systems, CAD/CAM, DNC control and laser process automation.
Key Findings
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Potential use in non-academic contexts
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Impacts
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher
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Project URL:
Further Information:
Organisation Website:	http://www.liv.ac.uk