Kiev, Ukraine—The 1st International Conference on Laser Technologies in Welding and Material Processing was held last May in Katsively on the Crimea Peninsula in Ukraine.
Organized by the Paton Welding Institute (Professor Borys Paton, co-chairman) and the Laser Technology Research Institute of the National Technical University of Ukraine (Dr. Volodymr Kovalenko, co-chairman), this conference drew 120 participants from 16 countries, a remarkable accomplishment given that conditions in Iraq and the SARS virus caused authors and participants from several countries to cancel travel plans.
Laser topics covered included welding, surfacing, heat treatment, rapid prototyping, modeling, and other advanced processes for laser machining of materials. In their keynote paper, Drs. Paton and Kovalenko stressed that despite great achievements in industrial laser system development and the implementation of a huge variety of processes, the field of industrial laser applications is still far from saturation. New types of lasers are under development, new technologies are appearing constantly, and prospects for laser applications remain bright.
Papers on high-power diode laser processing, modeling of hybrid laser-MIG welding processes, problems in hydrodynamics in the laser welding/.cutting process, and 3D object prototyping and plastic forming by Nd:YAG lasers were conference highlights. Conference proceedings are available from the Paton Welding Institute, [email protected]. The second of these conferences will be held in the same location in May of 2005. Visit www.nas.gov.ua/.pwj/ltwmp05.html.