Index

• Home
  • Our Organisation
    • Science Engineering and Health
      • Schools
        • Applied Sciences
          • Research Specialities
            • Acoustics
            • Advanced Coatings and Surface Engineering
              • Metal oxide films for chemical sensors, photovoltaic devices and MOS technology
              • Nanostructured carbon and advanced carbon films
            • Chemical and Quantum Physics
            • Chemometrics
            • Chromatography
            • Condensed Matter Theory
            • Environmental and Industrial Microbiology
            • Marine Biomedical Sciences and Health Research
            • Marine Ecology and Environmental Science
            • Medical Physics, Radiation Physics and Ion Beam Physics
            • Optics
            • Polymer
            • Soft Condensed Matter Physics
            • Water Pollution and Soil Environment

Advanced Coatings and Surface Engineering

Advanced Coatings and Surface Engineering group members
Back row (from the left): Kevin Wong, Paul Hubbard, Matthew Field, Dougal McCulloch and Derry Doyle.
Front row (from the left): Ju Lie Peng, Jim Partridge, Mark Ryan, Desmond Lau, Ali Moafi and Matthew Taylor.

Materials do not exist in isolation – they interact with their environment and with each other via their surfaces.

The surface plays a critical role in determining a material’s chemical, electronic, optical and mechanical properties. In recent years, surface engineering has undergone a revolution. Methods are now available which enable the construction and patterning of surfaces with nanoscale resolution. Equally the type of nanostructure within a coating can dramatically alter or enhance its properties. Examples include increased reactivity in catalytic layers, exceptional thermal conductivity in nanostructured carbon films and improved tribological performance in mechanical components.

The group currently has several research programs running in collaboration with Sutton Tools, the Defence Science and Technology Organization and research groups both national and international. These include:

• Metal oxide films for chemical sensors, photovoltaic devices and MOS technology
• Nanostructured carbon and advanced carbon films
• Active Screen Plasma Nitriding
• Functionally graded coatings on high speed steel cutting tools
• Next generation tooling and the tribology of metal cutting
• Advanced Microscopy and Microanalysis

Projects

• Metal oxide films for chemical sensors, photovoltaic devices and MOS technology
• Nanostructured carbon and advanced carbon films

Recent Activities

Photos from our recent motoring trip from Melbourne to Perth to attend the 20th Australian Conference for Microscopy and Microanalysis (February 2008).