Modeling for the Control of the Laser Aided Manufacturing Process(LAMP)

Many state–of–the–art Rapid Prototyping (RP) technologies adopt lasers to fabricate 3–D solid parts by material deposition in layers. The ability of these RP technologies to control the process requires a thorough understanding of the process mechanics. This paper presents the analysis of an analytical, dynamic model explaining the complex phenomenon of Laser Aided Manufacturing Process (LAMP). The equilibrium of the dynamic model is analyzed and dynamic simulations are performed to determine its stability characteristics. This model forms the basis for the real–time control of the LAMP.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Science Foundation (DMI–9871185), Society of Manufacturing Engineers (#02022–A), Missouri Research Board, and UMR’s Intelligent Systems Center.Mechanical Engineerin