Preface
L. Li and J. Lawrence
The 36th International Manufacturing, Automated Systems, Technology, Applications, Design, Organization and Management, Research (MATADOR) Conference was held in Manchester, UK from 14–16 July 2010. 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 36th 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 13 articles that cover a range of topics, including lasers in energy generation, laser welding, laser cladding, laser net-shape engineering, 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 37th MATADOR conference will take place in Manchester, UK from 25–27 July 2012 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.
Dr. Jonathan Lawrence
University of Lincoln, UK
Prof. Lin Li
University of Manchester, UK