Fundamental understanding of the environmental factors essential for environmental assisted fracture (EAF) of cast magnesium alloys. This project proposes a combined theoretical and experimental approach to understand the key environmental factors causing EAF of commercial cast magnesium alloys. Rather than testing all possibilities, it is proposed to establish a mechanistic understanding for EAF, and to test and expand that understanding through key experiments. EAF is a particularly dangerous ....Fundamental understanding of the environmental factors essential for environmental assisted fracture (EAF) of cast magnesium alloys. This project proposes a combined theoretical and experimental approach to understand the key environmental factors causing EAF of commercial cast magnesium alloys. Rather than testing all possibilities, it is proposed to establish a mechanistic understanding for EAF, and to test and expand that understanding through key experiments. EAF is a particularly dangerous and complicated form of corrosion. Existing experience indicates that EAF incidence will increase as magnesium alloys are increasingly used in more challenging applications. The results and insights from this research will help to underpin a major new industry and industrial applications.Read moreRead less
Isothermal Forging of Titanium Aluminide Based Intermetallic Alloys for Golf Club Head Applications. This project aims to produce prototype premium golf club heads of titanium aluminide alloys using isothermal forging technology. It is expected that innovative materials and processes will be developed that will keep the industry partner, SAT, ahead of its competitors and expand their export market share. It is also anticipated that these advanced materials and processes will lead to further ap ....Isothermal Forging of Titanium Aluminide Based Intermetallic Alloys for Golf Club Head Applications. This project aims to produce prototype premium golf club heads of titanium aluminide alloys using isothermal forging technology. It is expected that innovative materials and processes will be developed that will keep the industry partner, SAT, ahead of its competitors and expand their export market share. It is also anticipated that these advanced materials and processes will lead to further applications in biotechnology and automotive and aerospace engineering.
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Development of Creep Resistant TiAl Alloys for High Temperature Structural Applications. TiAl based alloys are being developed as high temperature structural materials for aerospace and automotive applications and thus their creep resistance (long-term strength at elevated temperatures) is critical. This project aims at developing creep resistant TiAl alloys through a combination of addition of rare earth and severe plastic deformation. It is expected that a refined and stablised microstructure ....Development of Creep Resistant TiAl Alloys for High Temperature Structural Applications. TiAl based alloys are being developed as high temperature structural materials for aerospace and automotive applications and thus their creep resistance (long-term strength at elevated temperatures) is critical. This project aims at developing creep resistant TiAl alloys through a combination of addition of rare earth and severe plastic deformation. It is expected that a refined and stablised microstructure consisting of submicron lamellar grains and nanosized lamellae be obtained. This will result in a highly creep resistant prototype TiAl material and leads eventually to the development of commercial TiAl alloys.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120102588
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
A fundamental approach to generating new classes of light-weight amorphous alloys based on liquid-metal structures. An innovative alloy design method that harnesses the stable building blocks of the liquid structure will be used to develop new light-weight magnesium, aluminium, silicon and titanium amorphous metals. These new alloys will exhibit ultrahigh-strength, corrosion-resistance and functionality offering a new alternative to high performance materials.
Reducing the environmental impact of steel making through direct strip casting. This project will investigate direct strip casting of steel, a technology that reduces the environmental footprint of liquid steel processing by up to 90 per cent. With the industry partner Baosteel, the project hopes to expand the application of this process to more steel grades and to also assess possible new steel grades with improved properties.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100738
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$368,000.00
Summary
Materials Design for Self-toughening Bulk Metallic Glasses. Bulk metallic glasses are a new class of superior, high-performance structural material exhibiting ultra-high strength and high corrosion and wear resistance. However, they suffer from poor ductility and the inability to strain harden, which restricts their range of applications. A recent novel approach of embedding ductile shape-memory-alloy particles into the glassy matrix is a promising way to improve ductility. The project aims to i ....Materials Design for Self-toughening Bulk Metallic Glasses. Bulk metallic glasses are a new class of superior, high-performance structural material exhibiting ultra-high strength and high corrosion and wear resistance. However, they suffer from poor ductility and the inability to strain harden, which restricts their range of applications. A recent novel approach of embedding ductile shape-memory-alloy particles into the glassy matrix is a promising way to improve ductility. The project aims to identify the optimal structures of these particles and the corresponding process for improving the properties of copper-zirconium based metallic glasses. This project is expected to create ductile metallic glass composites attractive for engineering, medical, sporting, and military applications.Read moreRead less
Unlocking the twinning stress: confidence inspiring light alloys. The ultimate aim of this research is to reduce fuel consumption through weight reduction. It will achieve this by increasing the performance of the lightest structural metal, magnesium. Contrary to the metals it typically replaces (steel and aluminium), magnesium fails via mechanisms that involve deformation twinning. Better understanding of twinning is needed to enhance performance and give automotive makers confidence to apply t ....Unlocking the twinning stress: confidence inspiring light alloys. The ultimate aim of this research is to reduce fuel consumption through weight reduction. It will achieve this by increasing the performance of the lightest structural metal, magnesium. Contrary to the metals it typically replaces (steel and aluminium), magnesium fails via mechanisms that involve deformation twinning. Better understanding of twinning is needed to enhance performance and give automotive makers confidence to apply the metal more widely. The applicants have recently found evidence that a key missing piece of the puzzle is the role of plastic relaxation. The proposed work will use this idea to develop a new fundamental understanding of twinning using novel in-situ diffraction and modelling techniques.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100440
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$368,446.00
Summary
Engineering hierarchical microstructures in high strength low alloy steels. This project aims to develop a new steel processing technology that will simultaneously increase strength and ductility via multi-scale hierarchical microstructures. Specifically, ultra-fine grain sized steels will be produced with controlled precipitation, segregation and solute atom clustering. Atom probe crystallography will be used to study the structure and chemistry of grain boundaries, providing new insights into ....Engineering hierarchical microstructures in high strength low alloy steels. This project aims to develop a new steel processing technology that will simultaneously increase strength and ductility via multi-scale hierarchical microstructures. Specifically, ultra-fine grain sized steels will be produced with controlled precipitation, segregation and solute atom clustering. Atom probe crystallography will be used to study the structure and chemistry of grain boundaries, providing new insights into the toughness of structural steels. The expected outcome will be the identification of potential new manufacturing routes for future high strength low alloy steels that are stronger, more ductile, and safer.Read moreRead less
Anisotropy of strengthening by solid solution and precipitation in concentrated Mg-Al and Mg-Zn alloys. The addition of solute increases the strength of Mg in some crystallographic directions but weakens the material in others. The weakening is called solid solution softening, and it can have profound effects on the mechanical behaviour of the material. Solid solution softening has been observed in the prismatic planes of single crystals of dilute Mg-Al and Mg-Zn alloys. Easier prismatic slip lo ....Anisotropy of strengthening by solid solution and precipitation in concentrated Mg-Al and Mg-Zn alloys. The addition of solute increases the strength of Mg in some crystallographic directions but weakens the material in others. The weakening is called solid solution softening, and it can have profound effects on the mechanical behaviour of the material. Solid solution softening has been observed in the prismatic planes of single crystals of dilute Mg-Al and Mg-Zn alloys. Easier prismatic slip lowers the strain hardening rate and increases the ductility of polycrystalline alloys in comparison with pure Mg. Despite their obvious significance, these effects have not been studied in single crystals of concentrated alloys. This is the main object of this project.Read moreRead less