Development of an Undergraduate Welding Laboratory for Research and Education

The shortage of welders in Hampton Roads area, where many shipyards are located, is becoming severe for shipbuilding in coming years. Many welding engineers graduated from universities located out of state, tend to go back to companies near their home, after receiving couple years of welding experience at Hampton Roads shipyards. Therefore, it is critical to train local welders. In order to address the welding workforce needs of Hampton Roads, the Department of Engineering Technology at Old Dominion University has recently launched an initiative for developing a laboratory for welding processes (LWP) for supporting educational and research activities in its Mechanical Engineering Technology program. This laboratory consists of various welding processes such as gas metal arc welding (GMAW), gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), laser welding, and ultrasonic metal welding. Most importantly, this is the first and only educational institute laboratory in Hampton Roads area that includes equipment for metallography; it is critical for welders to understand the physics behind welding processes. Equipment in this laboratory is intended to provide hands-on training to both mechanical engineering technology and mechanical engineering students by complementing and extending their welding expertise and better prepare students to handle the new industries demanding welding workforce. LWP is also can be used for wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) in order to introduce students to additive manufacturing (AM) technology. It is currently utilized to complement one elective existing course in Mechanical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering Technology programs. The Department of Engineering Technology aims to add 3 more welding related courses in order to offer a welding minor for Mechanical Engineering Technology students. In this paper, we mainly discuss the challenges and opportunities of integrating welding technologies in mechanical engineering technology curriculum based on our experiences at the Department of Engineering Technology at Old Dominion University. We will also present our recent welding processes laboratory initiative and discuss the use of LWP in supporting instruction and research in engineering technology