Industrial robot arms are an essential part of automated manufacturing, and perform tasks such as component assembly, welding, light machining, spray painting, etc. They are highly repeatable, can be calibrated to be ...

Advanced material handling systems' impact on flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) have increased the efficiency and work rate over conventional manufacturing assemblies. The interaction of automated guided vehicles ...

Modern trends in customer demand have resulted in the development of a class of manufacturing system known as Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS). Reconfigurable systems are designed around the idea that they must ...

The high temperature fatigue crack growth behaviour of the newly developed, metastable titanium-based alloy, TIMETAL 21S, was investigated in an inert and an oxidizing environment. The investigation adopted a two pronged ...

A new philosophy in structural health monitoring was explored, with the view to the creation of a smart mining bolt: one which would bear the normal load of any bolt used in South African gold mining tunnels, but at the ...

Increased standards of living and indoor comfort demands have led to an increase in the demand for air-conditioning in buildings in South Africa. Conventional vapor compression systems use refrigerants that damage the ...

Scientists are constantly seeking new and convenient non-destructive damage assessment techniques. In fact, a global market has developed for structural health monitoring products. Many of the currently available techniques ...

Semi-Solid Metal (SSM) forming has distinct advantages: strength, near net shape, thick and thin sections and a large scope of materials able to be cast. The aim of this project is to produce a near net shape component ...

Controlling a system with chaotic nature provides the ability to control and maintain orbits of different periods which extends the functionality of the system to be flexible. A system with diverse dynamical behaviours ...

Semi-solid manufacturing is a near net shape forming process that takes advantage of an alloy's thixotropic behaviour. However, in order to obtain the desired thixotropic properties from an alloy in the semi -solid state, ...