The future success of some of the fastest-growing and most critical industries in America hinges on solutions to problems so multi-disciplinary that teams of investigators with different backgrounds are needed to address these issues.

Engineers at Tufts University are addressing these challenges through the innovative Thermal Analysis of Materials Processing Laboratory (TAMPL). TAMPL is located on the Medford Campus of Tufts University in Massachusetts.

By examining physical processes used in industry and exploring the fundamental issues in thermal-fluid and materials science that underpin those processes, disseminating resulting research findings to academia and industry, and educating new generations of engineering professionals, TAMPL at Tufts' College of Engineering is bridging the gap between thermal-fluid sciences and materials engineering.

Materials processing -- particularly in high-tech industries -- has been identified as one of the critical technologies needed to improve the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing. Opto-electronics, microelectronics, and composites revolve around materials such as semiconductors, insulators, metals, and polymers in the forms of thin-films and fibers. These systems and structures, which provide the foundation for the future of the communications, biomedical, and microelectronic industries in America, can develop defects when heated and cooled during manufacturing processes, resulting in costly delays and wasted materials.

Finding ways to prevent these problems requires the teamwork of experts in the areas of material science, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and manufacturing. Few companies have access to such a team, but Tufts' engineering faculty includes interdisciplinary researchers skilled in addressing these topics of industrial and academic importance.