Mechanics of Materials and Advanced Manufacturing

Mechanics of materials and advanced manufacturing research is highly relevant to many industries, but with particular relevance in certain areas.

For example, our innovative damage evaluation methods and lifetime forecasting procedures enable high-value assets—such as bridges, mining equipment, pipelines, aircraft and rail transport—to be operated more safely and efficiently.

Similarly, our novel engineering materials facilitate advances in ‘green’ energy generation, smart transportation and bioengineering systems.

We aim to:

• help lower structural safety inspections’ required frequency, and reduce maintenance costs 
• create strong and tough materials suitable for harsh operating conditions, such as in aircraft engines, high-speed machining and chemical processing
• develop self-cleaning and antibacterial coatings, again to minimise maintenance time and cost.

Our research is highly cited and widely endorsed by the international engineering community. It has also had numerous real-world applications.

For example, our researchers’:

• recommendations regarding a number of serious structural integrity issues have been implemented by many local and international companies
• designed and created mechanically resilient coatings with self-toughened micro-architectures that outperform commercially available coatings
• developed multiple new mechanisms for creating high-strength steel, suitable for safety-critical applications such as suspension bridge construction
• revealed dental enamel’s structure-function link, essential for understanding and managing enamel defects, and designing novel biomimetic (nature mimicking) materials.

We can assist with: assess civil infrastructure and high-value-asset structural integrity

• conducting materials failure analysis for mining, transport and construction companies
• providing technical advice to steel and manufacturing companies for improved materials design
• expert advice on litigation matters associated with large structural failures.

To enquire about consulting or working with us on a research project, please contact:

• Professor Andrei Kotousov – Mechanics of Materials
• Associate Professor Reza Ghomashchi – Materials and Manufacturing

We have expertise across a wide range of areas. Many of our researchers are available to assist with research project supervision for Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy students.

We collaborate with various industry and government organisations, including:

• ASC 
• Australian National University
• City University of Hong Kong
• Dantec Dynamics, Ulm (Germany)
• Deakin University
• ENSTA Bretagne, Brest (France)
• Monash University
• Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (China)
• Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim (Norway)
• SA Power Networks
• Southeast University, Nanjing (China)
• The University of Porto (Portugal)
• University of New South Wales
• University of Wollongong