CMFI News
Bamboo fibres - UV-blocking clothing
Tarannum Afrin is a PhD candidate under the supervision of Dr. Takuya Tsuzuki, Dr. Rupinder Kanwar and Prof. Xungai Wang. She is working on the development of an eco-friendly manufacturing model to process bamboo plants into textile fibre. She is also investigating the origin of UV blocking and antibacterial properties of raw bamboo for the development of "green" functional textiles.
- It’s proven, bamboo clothes reduce the risk of skin cancers!
- Bamboo puts others in the shade - The Age newspaper
- Slip, slap, slop on a product made of bamboo? Deakin research gives Aussies edge under the sun
- Bamboo the answer to many questions
Wet weather coatings
Associate Professor Tong Lin and his collegues have developed a waterproof coating for fabric which only allows water to travel through it in one direction.
- Chemistry World (RSC, UK): Wet weather coatings
- The Institution of Chemical Engineers (UK): Waterproof fabric keeps you dry on the inside, Hydrophobic one side, hydrophilic on the other
- Chemie De (Germany): Wet weather coatings
- PaintSquare News (Germany): Coating Technique Pulls, Traps Water on Fabric
- DeakinResearch: Deakin creating the ultimate wet weather gear for all hydrophobes!
Deakin-CSIRO Joint Research Workshop
On Thursday August 19 2010, A Deakin-CSIRO Joint Research Workshop was held to introduce all staff members from the CSIRO MSE Geelong Laboratory to Deakin staff and environment. They had a guided tour of the main GTP building and the Proof-of-Concept Building. Our staff in the fibre and composite areas mingled with the visitors over BBQ lunch. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Lee Astheimer, welcomed the colleagues from CSIRO and gave an update on the Australian Future Fibres Research and Innovation Centre (AFFRIC). The Chief of CSIRO MSE, Dr Calum Drummond, briefed Deakin and CSIRO staff on new developments at CSIRO MSE. To aid collaboration, key researchers from Deakin and CSIRO shared their work in the following major program areas for AFFRIC:
- Nanofibres
- Carbon fibres and composites
- Green natural fibres
- Functional fibrous materials
New powdery future for wool and silk
New applications for wool and other natural fibres are expected from an international collaboration between Deakin University, ANSTO and Tufts University
Cheers for another fine RSC Fellow at Deakin
Associate Professor Tong Lin from Deakin University's Institute for Technology Research and Innovation (ITRI) has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC)
$1.01M Grant for Rubber Waste Recycling
Professor Qipeng Guo has been awarded $1.01M through the Advanced Manufacturing CRC to conduct a Rubber Waste Recycling project in partnership with VCAMM and VR TEK Global. The project will investigate VR TEK's patented rubber tyre recycling technology by establishing a pilot scale operation in the newly commissioned proof of concept building in the Geelong Technology Precinct.
Magnet Responsive "Smart Liquid Marble": A New Microfluidics
Associate Professor Tong Lin and his team in the Institute for Technology Research and Innovation (ITRI) have recently developed a new magnet-responsive liquid marble that could be used as an alternative to microchannel-based fluidics. The controlled transport of a single liquid droplet in microfluidics is a challenging problem, Lin said. Liquid marble, a liquid droplet coated with non-wetting powder, is a new way to manipulate single liquid droplet. It is elastic and non-sticky to solid and even liquid surfaces. Conventional liquid marble, however, cannot be opened and actuated by an external force, thus is difficult to be used for handling the liquid inside the marble.
By using superhydrophobic nano magnetic particles as the encapsulating agent, said Dr. Yan Zhao, a key member working in this field, we found the liquid marbles are responsive to magnetic fields. The magnetic liquid marble can not only be actuated by a magnet to shift from one place to another, but also be opened and closed reversibly.
Compared to other similar developments in this field, the main contribution of this work is the introduction of a magnetic response to open and close the liquid marbles said Lin. This creates an opportunity to enable an external device to take a liquid sample from the marble or add a chemical reagent to the encapsulated liquid for various purposes. Since the control is driven by a magnetic field, the opening and closing of the marble can be handled precisely by an electronic device.
The researchers have demonstrated the easy preparation of magnetic liquid marbles and their novel properties that can be used for magnetic manipulations of water droplets in a controlled manner. Recently, they have reported their findings in Advanced Materials ("Magnetic Liquid Marbles: Manipulation of Liquid Droplets Using Highly Hydrophobic Fe3O4 Nanoparticles"*), the top research journal in the material area. Their work was also reported by Nanowerk (http://www.nanowerk.com/), the leading website of nanotechnologies, in its prestige Spotlight (http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=14756.php ).
* Yan Zhao, Jian Fang, Hongxia Wang, Xungai Wang, Tong Lin, Advanced Materials, 2010, 22, 707-710.
Deakin researchers make the extra small, extra strong
Researchers at Deakin University have discovered a way to strengthen plastic nanofibres, ultra-fine fibres much thinner than a human hair, with one of the world's strongest materials, carbon.
ARC Grants Success
Deakin has achieved excellent results in the Australian Research Council (ARC) 2010 awards announced on Monday 26 October 2009. Deakin is placed 16th in the number of Discovery grants awarded and equal 6th in the number of Linkage grants awarded amongst Australian Universities.
CMFI researchers contributed to Deakin's success by winning the following two ARC grants -
- Protein Fibre Powders: Production, Characterisation and Applications (Discovery grant, $450 k)
Prof Xungai Wang; Dr Takuya Tsuzuki; Dr Suzanne V Smith; Prof David Kaplan - Formation and characterisation of continuous electrospun nanofibre yarns (Linkage grant, $300 k)
A/Prof Lingxue Kong, Prof Xungai Wang, Dr Tong Lin
Professor Xungai Wang has been invited to be a board member at the ATC-10 in Japan
Professor Wang was invited to be a board member at the 10th Asian Textile Conference (ATC-10) and also to be the Australian representative of the Federation of Asian Professional Textile Associations (FAPTA). The conference will be held at Ueda, Nagano, Japan in September 2009.
Deakin's research in advanced materials becomes "Hotter"
Deakin University's strategic partnership with the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) has achieved another milestone with the formal opening of a joint research laboratory in CATAS's Agricultural Product Processing Research Institute.
Internationalisation of Deakin's collaborative model on automotive research
Deakin's success in collaborative research in automotive materials and technologies has been further recognised globally.
The Sino-Australia Initiative for Automotive Materials and Technologies (iAMT) was officially opened in Hefei by Mr Christopher Wright, the Australian Deputy Consul-General in China.
Deakin research offers fresh hope for Leukaemia sufferers
New partnership aims to improve access to life-saving transplants
Boost to Research Infrastructure
Research activities at CMFI and ITRI will get a significant boost with the award of 3 new grants under Deakin University's Research Infrastructure Support Scheme (RISS). These grants, valued at $390,000, will allow us to acquire the following items:
- Quantitative OEM-CCD Spectrometer facility for composition analysis and alloy development (led by Professor Peter Hodgson)
- Universal Vacuum Ultraviolet Spectrophotometer for Nanomaterials and Biomaterials Research (led by Professor Ian Chen)
- Bench-top scanning electron microscope (led by Professor Xungai Wang)
The success of these grants represents a major team effort, involving a large number of researchers both within and outside CMFI/ITRI.
Matthew Dingle designs a boat for our Olympic rowers
Matt Dingle will be keeping an eye on more than his old crew mate James Tompkins at the Beijing Olympics...
Audio of the ABC radio interview with Matt Dingle on The Morning Show - (2MB MP3)
Robyn Williams interview
Robyn Williams interviewed Professor Xungai Wang and PhD student Minoo Naebe on "Revolutionary fibres using nanotechnology" on the ABC Science Show - 19th July, 2008. View the transcript or listen to the a recording of the program on the Science Show website.
Quickstep forward for Deakin researchers
Deakin University’s talented young research leader Dr Bronwyn Fox is part of a team of international experts on composites awarded a million dollar grant.
CMFI on New Inventors program
On May 9, 2008, The New Inventors from ABC Television visited the Centre for Material and Fibre Innovation. They came to film the research being carried out by the BioMetals group at the GTP and interviewed Professor Peter Hodgson and Dr. Cui'e Wen. They were particularly interested in the artificial bone materials developed by the group.
Deakin selected for Ford's challenge
Deakin is the only Australian university selected for Ford's global challenge!
Visit from Professor Zhuangqi Hu
On Friday 4th of April 2008, highly-respected Professor Zhuangqi Hu from IMR (Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences) visited the CMFI and presented a seminar on Amorphous Alloys & Processings. Professor Hu and Dr Matthew R. Barnett, Professor Andrew Parratt, and Director of Research Services, Alison Hadfield introduced research and exchanged collaborative research ideas and interests.
Professor Hu is a Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the Asian Pacific Academy of Materials. He has worked in the Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences for the last 50 years, and was the head of the Department of Superalloys and Special Casting, director of the State Key Laboratory of Rapidly Solidification and Nonequilibrium Alloys and chairman of the Academic Committee of the Institute. Prof. Hu is now the honorary professor of Northeast University and concurrent professor of nine famous universities in China. He was a visiting professor in MIT in the 1970’s.
Prof Hu’s research areas are in nonequilibrium solidification, directional solidification and rapid solidification processing, and using different solidification techniques to develop new materials with novel properties, including superalloys, directionally solidified and single crystals, intermetallic compounds and nonequilibrium alloys. He is one of the world leaders in the research field of high temperature alloys. He has received 11 awards for his significant achievements in science and technology, including First Prize and Second Prize of National Award of Scientific and Technological Progress. He has published and translated nine books. He has published 352 papers in leading international journals and 511 papers in Chinese journals. He has supervised 78 PhD students, 22 master students, and 16 postdoctoral researchers
CMFI Researchers on the move
On 20 August 2007, over 60 CMFI researchers moved into the expanded Geelong Technology Precinct (GTP) building. This major undertaking was carried out in a well co-ordinated manner with minimum disruption to the Centre's busy research activities. The majority of CMFI research students are now on the new mezzanine floor of the GTP building, and most research fellows are now together in the pod areas underneath. Also, researchers from BioDeakin are now located in this area, extending the multidisciplinary nature of the team. This move will significantly enhance the research as well as social interactions amongst the CMFI and other researchers.
