Improvement in Stress Corrosion Cracking Resistance of Stainless Steels in Environments Conducive to Localized Pitting Damage. Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) represents a serious threat to infrastructure exposed to chloride and caustic environments. The proposed project will characterize the chloride-SCC crack propagation parameters for a super duplex stainless steel, which is the material of construction for vessels for stripping vinyl chloride monomer in a PVC processing plant. Alarmingly hig ....Improvement in Stress Corrosion Cracking Resistance of Stainless Steels in Environments Conducive to Localized Pitting Damage. Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) represents a serious threat to infrastructure exposed to chloride and caustic environments. The proposed project will characterize the chloride-SCC crack propagation parameters for a super duplex stainless steel, which is the material of construction for vessels for stripping vinyl chloride monomer in a PVC processing plant. Alarmingly high numbers the welds (nearly 50%) in the vessel had suffered extensive pitting (which is a well-known SCC initiator) and SCC cracking. For the mitigation measures, the project will also investigate pitting and SCC susceptibility of weldments of alternative varieties of stainless steels, such as Zeron 100.Read moreRead less
Crack Propagation within Graded Interfaces. Functionally graded interfaces are a technologically new way of joining materials in a wide range of biomedical and industrial applications. The reduction in the interfacial stresses resulting from the graded interface increases the structural integrity of the component, however, existing models do not fully address issues of plasticity and cyclic fatigue to their fracture. The intention of this study is to investigate how modifications to the ductil ....Crack Propagation within Graded Interfaces. Functionally graded interfaces are a technologically new way of joining materials in a wide range of biomedical and industrial applications. The reduction in the interfacial stresses resulting from the graded interface increases the structural integrity of the component, however, existing models do not fully address issues of plasticity and cyclic fatigue to their fracture. The intention of this study is to investigate how modifications to the ductile reinforcement phase and how the cyclic loading influence crack extension within a graded interface. These results will assist in future design and prediction of the in-service lifetime of components containing gradient interfaces.Read moreRead less
Understanding nanostructure in lead-containing piezoceramics - the key to improved and environmentally-friendly materials. Lead-containing piezoelectric ceramics form the basis of multi-billion dollar industries, posing an increasingly serious environmental threat due to the toxicity of lead. By obtaining a detailed understanding of how their properties arise from their nanoscale structure and chemistry, our research will lead to improvements in existing materials and aid the quest for environme ....Understanding nanostructure in lead-containing piezoceramics - the key to improved and environmentally-friendly materials. Lead-containing piezoelectric ceramics form the basis of multi-billion dollar industries, posing an increasingly serious environmental threat due to the toxicity of lead. By obtaining a detailed understanding of how their properties arise from their nanoscale structure and chemistry, our research will lead to improvements in existing materials and aid the quest for environmentally-friendly alternatives. We will use a methodology for the elucidation of local structure and dynamics in which we are world leaders. The project will further enhance our standing in the field, provide excellent research training for students and early-career researchers and highlight the power and potential of Australia's new Synchrotron and OPAL research reactor.Read moreRead less
Development of Deformation-Mechanism Based Parameters for Improved Design of Hard Coatings. The use of thin hard abrasion-resistant coatings is an important method for significantly improving the operational lifetime of components in a wide range of mechanical, biomedical and sensory applications. The optimal design of these coatings is however severely restricted by a lack of detailed knowledge of their material deformation mechanisms. The proposed project will use novel nano-indentation and el ....Development of Deformation-Mechanism Based Parameters for Improved Design of Hard Coatings. The use of thin hard abrasion-resistant coatings is an important method for significantly improving the operational lifetime of components in a wide range of mechanical, biomedical and sensory applications. The optimal design of these coatings is however severely restricted by a lack of detailed knowledge of their material deformation mechanisms. The proposed project will use novel nano-indentation and electron microscope techniques to create a basis for mechanism-based deformation models. These models will then be used to develop new coating architectures with improved operational lifetimes as well as predicting coating lifetimes and developing simple tools for coating assessment.Read moreRead less
Electrical arc machining of polycrystalline diamond with a wheel electrode. This project aims to discover new theories to overcome the core challenge in electrical discharge machining of polycrystalline diamond. Diamond materials provide the ultimate performance in cutting difficult-to-machine materials such as titanium alloys which are widely used in the aerospace and biomedical industries. However, the extremely slow erosion speed of electrical discharge machining severely impedes their applic ....Electrical arc machining of polycrystalline diamond with a wheel electrode. This project aims to discover new theories to overcome the core challenge in electrical discharge machining of polycrystalline diamond. Diamond materials provide the ultimate performance in cutting difficult-to-machine materials such as titanium alloys which are widely used in the aerospace and biomedical industries. However, the extremely slow erosion speed of electrical discharge machining severely impedes their applications. The project will use high energy electrical arcs for the fast machining of polycrystalline diamond. The expected outcome is a new approach and breakthroughs in fundamental knowledge that pave the way for developing new electrical machining methods and lead to significant reductions in manufacturing costs.Read moreRead less
Surface engineering of cast magnesium alloys for innovative high performance packaging robots. High performance packaging robots are in significant demand in the food, medicine and cosmetics industries. This project will solve a critical problem in the development of such robots at low cost by the novel use of cast magnesium alloys, which will greatly increase productivity and decrease energy consumption through weight reduction.
Beyond Phononic Crystals-Building New Concepts to Enhance Thermoelectricity. Waste heat, which is discharged into the environment from industrial plants and vehicle exhausts, represents a huge amount of lost energy and is a major contributor to global warming. Thermoelectric materials, which can generate electricity from the waste heat, could play an important role in a global sustainable energy solution while reducing greenhouse emissions. This program is aimed at experimental and theoretical d ....Beyond Phononic Crystals-Building New Concepts to Enhance Thermoelectricity. Waste heat, which is discharged into the environment from industrial plants and vehicle exhausts, represents a huge amount of lost energy and is a major contributor to global warming. Thermoelectric materials, which can generate electricity from the waste heat, could play an important role in a global sustainable energy solution while reducing greenhouse emissions. This program is aimed at experimental and theoretical development of new concepts to engineer the interfaces with various atomic stacking sequence of two complex oxides and also the three-dimensional binary nanocube superlattices to enhance the energy conversion efficiency of oxide based thermoelectric materials by several times over today's state-of-the-art.Read moreRead less
Magnetic liquid marbles: a new droplet manipulation technique for channel-free microfluidics. The project will explore the feasibility of developing a new droplet-manipulation strategy by using magnetically responsive liquid marbles capable of hosting various liquid droplets. It will significantly advance the development of a new generation of microfluidic devices: magnetic field-actuated channel-free droplet microfluidics.
Novel lithium iron based olivine phosphates as cathode materials for the development of new generation power batteries. Global warming and climate change are a serious threat to our society today. We must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by using renewable energy for sustainable development. Battery technology is regarded as one of the green technologies that can be widely used to power vehicles and store energy. This project will develop new generation lithium-ion power batteries using novel lit ....Novel lithium iron based olivine phosphates as cathode materials for the development of new generation power batteries. Global warming and climate change are a serious threat to our society today. We must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by using renewable energy for sustainable development. Battery technology is regarded as one of the green technologies that can be widely used to power vehicles and store energy. This project will develop new generation lithium-ion power batteries using novel lithium iron based phosphate cathode materials. The success of the research will provide advanced rechargeable batteries for electric bicycles, electric motorcycles and hybrid electric vehicles, contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions. Read moreRead less
Band gap engineering of novel (In,Ga)SbN epitaxial semiconductors for high-performance long-wavelength optoelectronic devices. This proposal is at the forefront of a number of important fields, and therefore the outcomes are expected to be of great interest to a broad spectrum of industry sectors, including national defence, health care, environment and manufacturing. This novel material system could create new high technologies for various infrared devices. The outcomes of this project will pos ....Band gap engineering of novel (In,Ga)SbN epitaxial semiconductors for high-performance long-wavelength optoelectronic devices. This proposal is at the forefront of a number of important fields, and therefore the outcomes are expected to be of great interest to a broad spectrum of industry sectors, including national defence, health care, environment and manufacturing. This novel material system could create new high technologies for various infrared devices. The outcomes of this project will position Australian researchers among the pioneering groups in this area and will be beneficial to several major technology-related fields: global warming and associated environmental monitoring, security systems, thermal-imaging systems for night vision, and healthcare with the emphasis on disease diagnosis and treatment.Read moreRead less