Getting smarter with resources

Professor Yuri Estrin and Dr Rimma Lapovok to the backdrop of a new ECAP rig at Monash (Photo: Greg Ford, Monash University Photographic Unit)

Australia is leading the way in light alloy component manufacturing.

With new technology and a change in mindset, Australia is building a competitive advantage through state-of-the-art industrial processing.

Export earnings will be greatly enhanced by adding high-end manufacturing and processing techniques to our natural resources.

Professor Yuri Estrin and Dr Rimma Lapovok at Monash Engineering have joined forces with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Design in Light Metals to develop the new processing technologies.

Their research is based on severe deformation of metals and alloys, leading to extreme refinement of their internal make-up – often down to nanometre scale. This brings about spectacular improvements in the mechanical performance of light alloys and other materials.

New variants of the ECAP technology, which the Monash researchers are developing through linkages with CSIRO, as well as research centres in France, Poland, Korea and the US, will open doors to promising new manufacturing opportunities.

The high-grade production and mechanically superior alloys are demanded in components for automotive, aerospace, electronic and biomedical applications.

Australia’s manufacturing companies now have their eyes on a much bigger prize. With this new technology at their disposal, highly sophisticated end products are in sight.