UNSW, Science, Materials Science & Engineering

 

Address:

School of Materials Science and Engineering
Faculty of Science
University of New South Wales
Sydney NSW 2052
Australia  

Phone:

+61 2 9385 4436  

Fax:

+61 2 9385 5956  

Email:

asmith@materials.unsw.edu.au  

Participants

Major Facilities

  • Biomaterials: range of processing and characterisation equipment for the study of ceramic, metallic, and polymeric devices.
  • Black Coal Utilisation: Vertical and horizontal furnaces (1700oC), hot press for briqueting, on-line mass spectometer, high-frequency induction furnace, CCD cameras and image analysis software for sessile drop measurements, and carbon/nitrogen/oxygen/sulphur determination units.
  • Ceramics: Freeze and rotary evaporation driers; a wide range of wet and dry milling and mixing units; ultrasonic dispersion units; rheometers; a full range of resistance, induction, and proportional-power microwave furnaces; autoclave; differential thermal and thermogravimetric analysers; differential scanning calorimeter; dilatometers; and ultra-low vacuum sessile drop unit.
  • Composites: Comprehensive range of equipment for the characterisation and testing (20o-100oC) of composites. Sample preparation equipment includes a platen hot press (300oC) and casting facilities.
  • Electronic and Superconducting Ceramics: Equipment for the measurement of d.c. electrical resistivity, a.c. magnetic susceptibility, and Hall Effect (all 77-300 K); electromagnet (2 T); superconducting magnet (7 T); and pilot plant for continuous fabrication of coated tapes.
  • Fracture, Failure and Wear: Two servo-hydraulic universal testing machines (250 kN capacity), screw machine (100 kN capacity), high-temperature testing furnace (1000oC), Charpy impact tester, indentation microhardness testers, Taber abrasers, pin-on-disk tribometer, high-stress pin-on-drum abrasion wear tester, and low-stress rubber wheel wear tester (ASTM standard).
  • High-Temperature Materials: Ambient and controlled-atmosphere furnaces (1300oC) used in conjunction with a wide range of thermogravimetric analysers, including a Cahn D200 thermobalance (0.1 mg sensitivity, 3.5 g capacity), cyclic oxidation rigs, gas mixing systems, and arc melting equipment for alloy preparation.
  • Iron, Steel and Alloy Processes: Iron smelting induction furnace with 50 kg capacity and on-line mass spectrometer, two thermogravimetric analysers with 100 g and 1700oC limits, processing facilities for studying solid-gas reactions with on-line mass spectrometer, and a dual-zone furnace (1300o and 1700oC) for work with metals of high volatility.
  • Materials Interfaces: Suite of novel equipment for the measurement of various parameters as a function of temperature (to 1000oC) and oxygen partial pressure. These techniques include work function using Kelvin probes, thermoelectric power using the Seebeck effect, electromotive force (emf) using solid-state galvanic cells, and d.c. electrical conductivity using the four-point probe method. The Centre also has a chemisorption system and an oxygen isotope exchange system.
  • Particulate Science and Technology: Range from a simple apparatus for fluid drag force measurement to complex rigs to simulate powder-liquid-gas flow with moving particles in blast furnace conditions. There also is access to a variety of computers for modelling and data processing applications.
  • Physical Metallurgy: Equipment for sample preparation, microscopy, and mechanical characterisation.
  • Polymers: Two micro-Raman spectrometers (514, 633, and 780 nm laser excitation frequencies) plus a full range of accessories, differential scanning calorimeter, and injection moulder.
  • A number of units and facilities, including X-ray diffractometers; optical microscopes; image analyser; cutting, crushing, and grinding equipment; classification facilities; hot and cold metalworking equipment; pressing and mounting units; and laboratories for polishing, plating, welding, and computer applications.

Group Websites:

http://www.materials.unsw.edu.au/