Developing innovative methodologies to understand nanoscale adhesion and friction

The understanding and characterization of the adhesion and friction between a nanostructure and a substrate is essential in the design and development of nano-device or systems. This project aims to develop simple and reliable methodologies that can accurately measure the adhesion and friction between a nano-structure and a substrate, and to gain an improved insight into the origins of adhesion and friction at nanoscale.
Contact: Professor Han Huang or Dr Shiliang Wang

Understanding the role of nanoparticles in sustainable water based lubricants for hot strip rolling

In hot rolling of steel, rolls have to withstand severe extremes of temperature and load, which exceeds the normal operating range of organic lubricants. This project aims to develop nano-additive water based lubricants. Nano-additives were added to water using innovative dispersion technology to form nanoparticles based lubricants without particle agglomeration. The lubricants were proven to have high wettability and affinity to steel surfaces and are stable at high temperature. This technology greatly improve the effect of lubricants in hot rolling of steels. The developed novel water based lubrication solution will have significant implication in the current production of steels.
Contact: Professor Han Huang
 

Additive manufacturing of biodegradable porous bioceramic-polymer scaffolds for bone tissue engineering 

Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies has enabled the fabrication of scaffolds with a highly complex and completely interconnected pore network. This project aims to develop new AM processes for porous bio-ceramic scaffolds using novel powder formulations. Among various AM techniques, selective laser sintering (SLS) is used for producing ceramic scaffolds due to its ability to process a wide range of bio-engineering materials. In a SLS process, powder particles are selectively fused together with a focused laser beam in a layer-by-layer fashion based on the computer aided design (CAD) model of the part. The outcome of this project will lead to innovative SLS processes that would power new manufacturing industries for producing ceramic component for bio-medical application. 
Contact: Professor Han Huang or Dr Mingyuan Lu

Additive manufacturing (AM) of advanced ceramics

Currently available additive manufacturing processes have not yet been able to successfully produce full density and defeat-free ceramic parts. This project aims to understand the fundamental mechanisms involved in the selective laser sintering and selective laser melting (SLM) of ceramic materials. In this project, systematic investigation is carried out to understand the interactions between materials, process parameters, properties and surface/structure integrity involved in the ceramic SLM process.
Contact: Professor Han Huang or Dr Mingyuan Lu

Mechanisms and innovative technologies for machining nanoscale multilayered thin film solar panels

The machining of thin film solar panels is facing a great challenge in industry due to the low machining efficiency, and a timely solution is needed if this approach to solar energy production is to progress further. To solve the bottleneck in the manufacture of thin film solar panels, the aim of this project is to understand the mechanics of deformation of a thin film multilayer structure under machining‐induced loading and to develop a pragmatic high speed grinding technology for machining solar panel materials based on this understanding.
Contact: Professor Han Huang

Developing a simple method for characterising the mechanical properties of nanowhiskers

Nanowhiskers are key building blocks of future generation nanodevices. However, the current methods for measuring mechanical properties of nanowhiskers are inaccurate and can produce contradictory results, due to the lack of comprehensive understanding of their deformation physics and the extreme challenge in mastering sophisticated measuring methodologies. This project aims to develop a simple method that combines loop bending with resonant vibration testing, to accurately measure elastic modulus and yield, tensile and fracture strengths of nanowhiskers. Successful outcomes from this project will not only solve along-standing problem in the application of nanowhiskers, but provide new understanding of deformation science at the nanoscale. This research aims to accurately measure mechanical properties of nanostructures, addressing a challenging issue in the ongoing development of nanotechnology. The success of this project will provide important advances in the understanding of the mechanical behaviour of nanowhiskers and assist in the further development of nanomaterials.
Contact: Professor Han Huang or Dr Shiliang Wang
 

Surface engineering of cast magnesium alloys for innovative high performance packaging robots

This project aims to solve a bottle-neck problem associated with weight reduction in the development of innovative high-performance packaging robot through the use of surface treated cast magnesium alloys. Current packaging robots cannot achieve the required speed due to the use of heavy steel or aluminium parts. The proposed research will develop novel surface treatment techniques for cast Mg alloys to improve their surface durability, so that the alloys can be used to replace steel or aluminium parts and therefore to reduce robot weight at reasonable cost. 
Contact: Professor Han Huang