February 26, 2016
The Monash Centre for Atomically Thin Materials (MCATM), a joint initiative between Monash’s Science and Engineering faculties, is an international hub for research in novel atomically thin materials such as graphene. The multidisciplinary centre brings together world-leading expertise from across Monash with national and international partners and industry. With state-of-the-art facilities and technology, it offers a platform for researchers to gain a deeper understanding of how atomically thin materials integrate with each other or with other materials, to achieve engineering solutions and realise new applications to meet the needs of the Australian manufacturing industry. What is graphene? Graphene is a plane of carbon just one atom thick arranged in a hexagonal lattice reminiscent of a honeycomb. Graphene is the basic constituent of graphite, which consists of graphene…
February 12, 2016
Founded in 1981, GSA is the largest independent Governor service facility in the Australasian region, specialising in Woodward, Diesel Kiki, Zexel and Heinzmann governing equipment. Boasting a workforce with more than 120 years of collective experience in the design, manufacture, service and repair of governing equipment, the team at GSA is considered specialist and leader in Governor technology for the South-East Asian region. The company services a range of valued customers in the power-generation, sugar milling, mining, oil & gas, and transport industries, both throughout Australia and internationally. With an advanced, well-equipped workshop, freely available spare parts and a team of enthusiastic, proficient staff, GSA is capable of providing efficient and high-quality service and repairs for all forms of governing equipment. GSA’s workshop facilities include a full range of quality machine tools and a large stock-holding of Australian-made spare parts, which enables it to ensure a high level of service. GSA’s 3,600sqm facility has…
February 12, 2016
The approach, called “near net shape”, uses a high-volume thermoplastic printer to quickly create a part that is nearly, but not exactly, the final net shape. A subtractive function then machines the part to the exact final net shape. In its final form, Thermwood’s system will perform both the additive and subtractive functions on the same machine. Thermwood’s development system has been tested through its entire operating range and has performed well during initial additive testing. This start-up phase included initial validation of an all-new “MeltShape Technology”. Melt-shaping promises enhanced control of layer shape and improved bonding between layers. This new patent-pending approach uses one or more shaping wheels to shape, form and compress the hot plastic melt as it is being extruded, ensuring that each new layer is the proper shape and thickness and that it bonds firmly to previously applied material. Melt-shaping offers a new and promising technique in the advancement of large-scale additive manufacturing. The material processed…
February 12, 2016
The Thin Film Coatings Group deals primarily in materials science and is a leader in pairing research with commercial outcomes for private industries. The group recently published a paper in Translational Materials Research called ‘Optical coatings for automotive applications: a case study in translating fundamental materials science into commercial reality’, in which it discussed its experience in the space and the best ways to pursue working relationships with private industry. In fact, the group is entirely funded through their industry engagements. In addition to the SMR Automotive project, it partnered with Malaysian Automotive Institute to create plastic vehicle windows. It also worked with Envirominerals to perfect mineral extraction technology, collaborated on energy storage with Tindo Solar, and is responsible for the newly formed Heliostat SA’s research arm. It has created contact lenses with Contamac UK and even researched adaptive camouflage with the DSTO.…
February 5, 2016
Capable of a colossal 660,000Nm of continuous, servo-controlled torque, the custom-designed machine will be used for precision bending of thick-walled carbon steel pipes up to 273mm in diameter. It is the second all-electric pipe bender that Unison has supplied to Westcon’s pipe production facilities in Ølensvåg, Norway. The first, a 90mm single-stack model from Unison’s Breeze range, was installed at the beginning of 2015 and enabled the company to bring much of its pipe fabrication in-house. With the new machine, Westcon intends producing virtually all the pipe sizes it needs in-house, without having to use pre-fabricated bend sections. Although Unison’s bending machines are used by a number of leading ship and submarine builders to produce large pipe and tube assemblies, this is by far the most powerful that the company has ever designed and built. Unison’s range of all-electric bending machines now extends from 16mm to 273mm. Westcon specialises in building and repairing ships for the offshore and fishing sectors, and in servicing, maintaining and repairing semi-submersible and jack-up rigs used by the offshore oil and…
January 16, 2015
Only two of the seven activity sub-indexes – those for employment (up 4.7 points to 52.5) and exports (up 2.9 points to 51.0) – were above 50 points this month (readings below 50 indicate a contraction in activity, with the distance from 50 indicative of the strength of the decrease). The new orders sub-index fell sharply (down 10.6 points to 43.7) following two months of mild expansion, reflecting slower growth or a decline in new orders across the manufacturing sub-sectors. Manufacturing production also contracted for a second month (down 1.4 points to 46.0). Reflecting the weak trading conditions, supplier deliveries (down 3.5 points 48.5) and stocks (almost unchanged at 45.4) also contracted in December. Ai Group Chief Executive, Innes Willox, said: "We would have hoped to have seen a stronger Australian PMI® in the lead-up to Christmas, but the finding is consistent with other publicly released data. Respondents to the Australian PMI® welcomed the further depreciation in the Australian dollar, but noted that the level of…
