High performance drying of plantation grown eucalypt timber. Forest industries generate $14 billion annually in Australia and employs 86,000 staff. Hardwood sawn timber is a value added product and microwave technology will increase returns due to more improved timber utilization and better profit margins due to more efficient processing and reduced drying degrade. At the forefront the development of clean, high-tech microwave drying technology and equipment, that is invented in Australia, will ....High performance drying of plantation grown eucalypt timber. Forest industries generate $14 billion annually in Australia and employs 86,000 staff. Hardwood sawn timber is a value added product and microwave technology will increase returns due to more improved timber utilization and better profit margins due to more efficient processing and reduced drying degrade. At the forefront the development of clean, high-tech microwave drying technology and equipment, that is invented in Australia, will allow Australian companies to be forefront in this industrial area, to sell licences, designs, project management and equipment on international markets. This initiative will value-add plantation forests, reduce oil consumption and sequester CO2 in high value products.Read moreRead less
Tough bio-derived and biodegradable wood plastic composites. This project aims for the development of tough bio-based and biodegradable wood plastic composites (WPCs), directly addressing a key end-user demand that performance of bio-WPCs must be at least comparable with existing commercial WPCs. The project expects to generate key innovations such as developing a new, high performance, bio-based and biodegradable WPC by incorporating native spinifex-derived nano-cellulose fibres, ensuring excel ....Tough bio-derived and biodegradable wood plastic composites. This project aims for the development of tough bio-based and biodegradable wood plastic composites (WPCs), directly addressing a key end-user demand that performance of bio-WPCs must be at least comparable with existing commercial WPCs. The project expects to generate key innovations such as developing a new, high performance, bio-based and biodegradable WPC by incorporating native spinifex-derived nano-cellulose fibres, ensuring excellent, molecular-level dispersion with a novel low-cost and energy-efficient wet-mix technology. This will provide significant benefits as it will lead to new products and markets for the Australian forestry industry and for rural and indigenous Australia, maximising Australia’s competitive advantage in biomass-derived products.Read moreRead less
New Wrought Magnesium Alloys: Manipulating the Annealed Microstructure. One of the main impediments to increased use of wrought magnesium is its characteristic but mediocre mechanical properties. The proposed work paves the way for new improved wrought magnesium alloys by determining how the constituent nano-structures, micro-structures and deformation conditions can be manipulated to control the evolution of properties during annealing. The project will deliver mathematical models describing th ....New Wrought Magnesium Alloys: Manipulating the Annealed Microstructure. One of the main impediments to increased use of wrought magnesium is its characteristic but mediocre mechanical properties. The proposed work paves the way for new improved wrought magnesium alloys by determining how the constituent nano-structures, micro-structures and deformation conditions can be manipulated to control the evolution of properties during annealing. The project will deliver mathematical models describing the annealed microstructure and mechanical properties. The work will also explore the potential of a recent discovery made by the CI of a simple technique to randomise the alignment of the annealed atomic lattice structure, which promises to markedly improve formability.Read moreRead less
Modelling twinning transitions in light metals: a new foundation for alloy and process development. Australia's quest to become a world leader in light metals technology is being held back by a lack of quantitative understanding of the metallurgical behaviour of magnesium, which is the lightest engineering metal, and titanium, which is the strongest light metal. In particular, there is poor knowledge of the influence of material parameters on deformation twinning. This knowledge is vital for eff ....Modelling twinning transitions in light metals: a new foundation for alloy and process development. Australia's quest to become a world leader in light metals technology is being held back by a lack of quantitative understanding of the metallurgical behaviour of magnesium, which is the lightest engineering metal, and titanium, which is the strongest light metal. In particular, there is poor knowledge of the influence of material parameters on deformation twinning. This knowledge is vital for efficient production and optimised alloy and part design. This proposal aims to develop a quantitative understanding of transitions in twinning activation for improved performance in fatigue, crash behaviour, structural integrity, forming, forging, extruding, hot rolling and annealing.Read moreRead less
The development of lead-free silicon brass for the plumbing industry. The worldwide brass industry is currently undergoing a transition away from lead-containing brass water fittings to lead-free fittings. The transition is driven by concerns surrounding lead-leaching into drinking water. This project is focussed on the development of new lead-free brasses that can be used to manufacture plumbing fittings with superior combinations of processability, performance and cost.
Ultra-lightweight alloys with unique multi-dimensional property profiles. Lightweight alloys with high specific-strength are an essential prerequisite in modern and future technologies. To be useful, they must also possess ductility and inherent corrosion resistance. The latter two properties, however, are inversely correlated with strength. This project proposes to break this paradox - not only in terms of a paradigm change regarding multi-property alloy design - but as applied to the most ligh ....Ultra-lightweight alloys with unique multi-dimensional property profiles. Lightweight alloys with high specific-strength are an essential prerequisite in modern and future technologies. To be useful, they must also possess ductility and inherent corrosion resistance. The latter two properties, however, are inversely correlated with strength. This project proposes to break this paradox - not only in terms of a paradigm change regarding multi-property alloy design - but as applied to the most lightweight engineering alloy system in existence, Magnesium-Lithium (Mg-Li), for which the impact on specific properties is immense. The aim is to develop ultra-lightweight Mg-Li based alloys with formidable property profiles via alloy design and thermomechanical processing. The expected outcome is a new class of structural corrosion resistant metal.Read moreRead less
Crystallography to deform and anneal metals. This project aims to study how the micromechanisms of plastic deformation affect the annealing behaviour of metals. This project will create a computational platform built on a reconstruction algorithm for three-dimensionally reconstructing experimentally-derived orientation data to generate the complete microstructure of crystalline material. It will reconstruct complex deformation and recrystallising structures in metals, through to the boundaries, ....Crystallography to deform and anneal metals. This project aims to study how the micromechanisms of plastic deformation affect the annealing behaviour of metals. This project will create a computational platform built on a reconstruction algorithm for three-dimensionally reconstructing experimentally-derived orientation data to generate the complete microstructure of crystalline material. It will reconstruct complex deformation and recrystallising structures in metals, through to the boundaries, phases and interfaces present in metals and ceramics. The intended outcome is the explanation of unresolved phenomena associated with thermomechanical processing of metals and alloys, useful for materials science, structural geology and condensed matter physics.Read moreRead less
ENHANCED PERFORMANCE OF AUTOMOTIVE SHEET ALLOYS VIA CONTROL OF COMPOSITION, THERMAL PROCESSING AND NANOSTRUCTURE. This project involves characterisation using modern facilities of the form and identity of atomic-scale clusters of alloying elements in selected automotive sheet alloys that have been subjected to single and multiple ageing treatments and examination and modelling of deformation mechanisms and behaviour in such alloys. The aim is to establish the precise role of clusters of solute a ....ENHANCED PERFORMANCE OF AUTOMOTIVE SHEET ALLOYS VIA CONTROL OF COMPOSITION, THERMAL PROCESSING AND NANOSTRUCTURE. This project involves characterisation using modern facilities of the form and identity of atomic-scale clusters of alloying elements in selected automotive sheet alloys that have been subjected to single and multiple ageing treatments and examination and modelling of deformation mechanisms and behaviour in such alloys. The aim is to establish the precise role of clusters of solute atoms and vacancies in the formation of precipitate phases that control the final strength and deformation behaviour of the alloys, and to provide useful guidelines for further improvements in strength of these alloys via the control of alloy composition and of multiple ageing treatments.Read moreRead less
Unlocking the diverse property profile of ultra-lightweight magnesium alloys. This project aims to develop the theory behind why micro alloying contributes to the formation of surface film properties. The exemplar is a prototype Magnesium-Lithium (Mg-Li) base alloy, with high specific-strength and corrosion resistance. This project will lead to the development of a new processable ultra-lightweight, corrosion resistant Mg-Li alloy family that is stronger than the prototype alloy, and with, at le ....Unlocking the diverse property profile of ultra-lightweight magnesium alloys. This project aims to develop the theory behind why micro alloying contributes to the formation of surface film properties. The exemplar is a prototype Magnesium-Lithium (Mg-Li) base alloy, with high specific-strength and corrosion resistance. This project will lead to the development of a new processable ultra-lightweight, corrosion resistant Mg-Li alloy family that is stronger than the prototype alloy, and with, at least, comparable ductility and corrosion resistance. Not only will the outcomes of the work be a fundamental advance to the fields of metallurgy and corrosion science, they will lead to the identification of an optimised compositional window for creating our second generation Mg-Li alloy family capable of being manufactured into ultra-lightweight, corrosion resistant metal products.Read moreRead less
Lower-cost processing of formable magnesium alloys. This project aims to develop higher speed extrusion and rolling of magnesium alloys through the enhanced control of alloying elements and processing schedules. Expected outcomes of this project include the development of novel alloys and processing technologies that can produce lighter, better performing magnesium products with lower processing costs. This project will deliver magnesium products that can improve fuel efficiency, resulting in lo ....Lower-cost processing of formable magnesium alloys. This project aims to develop higher speed extrusion and rolling of magnesium alloys through the enhanced control of alloying elements and processing schedules. Expected outcomes of this project include the development of novel alloys and processing technologies that can produce lighter, better performing magnesium products with lower processing costs. This project will deliver magnesium products that can improve fuel efficiency, resulting in lower emissions and less environmental pollution, along with lightweight portable consumer goods.Read moreRead less