Materials and Structures Research Projects for Students

If you are interested in doing a project with us during your studies or summer vacation, please email

• a list of 1-3 projects that you are interested in
• attach your CV (which should include your WAM and your academic record)
• the subject line of "Application: Materials and Structures Research Project for Students"

Design of Structures Including Uncertainty

Supervisor: Gareth Vio
ID: MSRC12
Date: 24.11.2012
Deterministic approaches to design use safety factors and worst-case design scenarios to account for uncertainties and consequently the design are conservative or could be unknowly dangerous. This project aims to explore design capabilities by including uncertainty principles in the design process in order to create a robust design for the given parameter space. The project will target composite thin wall structures in both civil and aeronautical applications. Supervised by Gareth Vio, Hao Zhang, Liyong Tong and Kim Rasmussen. Suitability: undergraduate and postgraduate

Atom probe experiments on doped Si wafers

Supervisor: Prof. Simon Ringer
ID: MSRC01
Date: 31.10.2012
For the experimentalist: In this project, you will perform experiments on doped silicon wafers. You will be responsible for specimen preparation, the atom probe microscope experiment, and the analysis of the data after the experiment.

Development of atom probe analysis programs

Supervisor: Prof. Simon Ringer
ID: MSRC02
Date: 31.10.2012
This project will involve software development of novel and existing tools and techniques for the analysis of atom probe data. These tools will have the potential to be used by atom probe researchers worldwide.

Discovering new mechanisms for strength

Supervisor: Dr. Peter Liddicoat
ID: MSRC03
Date: 31.10.2012
In a new generation of super strong alloys, this project will study the origins of strength and how to optimise properties. Students will be trained to use state of the art research techniques to characterise the architecture of grain boundaries and second phase precipitates.

Understanding the role of the different deformation mechanisms during the mechanical loading of titanium

Supervisor: Dr. Gwénaëlle Proust
ID: MSRC04
Date: 31.10.2012
Titanium has applications in modern industries concerned with pollution reduction, energy saving and health improvement because of its low density, high strength at high temperatures, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility. The main objective of this project is to understand how titanium deform and especially to characterise and define the effects of two deformation mechanisms: twinning and detwinning. In that purpose, the student will carry out mechanical deformation and microstructural characterisation of titanium specimens. In parallel, he/she will help develop a new code to automatically analyse and quantify twinning using micrographs.

Computer-aided design of solvent materials for carbon dioxide capture

Supervisor: Dr. Ali Abbas
ID: MSRC05
Date: 31.10.2012
This project aims at significant reductions in the CO2 capture energy penalty by way of analysis and design of new solvent materials. The project will use computer models and simulations to calculate material properties for screening and selection of 'best' sorption materials considering carbon capture performance criteria.

Effect of high strain-rate deformation on the structures of single-phase and dual-phase nanocrystalline materials

Supervisor: A/Prof. Xiaozhou Liao
ID: MSRC06
Date: 31.10.2012
Nanocrystalline materials have superior mechanical properties because of the unique deformation behaviour of the materials. This project aims to understand the deformation behaviour of nanocrystalline Ni (single face-centred cubic phase) and nanocrystalline Ni-Co alloys (face-centred cubic and close-packed hexagonal dual phases) under high strain-rate deformation. The nanocrystalline materials were produced using electrodeposition. High strain-rate deformation will be carried out using a split Hopkinson bar located in the Civil Engineering. Structural characterisation will be conducted using X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy in Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis.

Effect of high pressure and high-pressure torsion processing on the microstructure of bulk metallic glasses

Supervisor: A/Prof. Xiaozhou Liao
ID: MSRC07
Date: 31.10.2012
Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) are the strongest metallic materials. However, the materials suffer from very poor ductility. One possible way to improve the ductility of BMGs is through manipulating the structures of the BMGs using plastic deformation. This project aims to understand how two deformation modes – high-pressure compression and high-pressure torsion, both in a constrained volume – affect the structure of BMGs. Structural characterisation will be carried out using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and electron microscopy.

The Development of biomimetic nacre-like composites

Supervisor: A/Prof Julie Cairney
ID: MSRC08
Date: 01.11.2012
This project will involve the development of very strong, very tough composites inspired by nacre, the mother-of-pearl material found in seashells, which has a remarkable strength and toughness despite its composition of relatively weak constituents. The student will be involved with the characterisation of the composite's microstructure using advanced microscopy, and will work with a group of researchers across the University: A/Prof Andrew Minett, who is based in Chemical Engineering and who's group are developing the composites themselves, A/Prof, Julie Cairney, who is based in the Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis and will provide support with the characterisation, and Dr Luming Shen, who is based in Civil Engineering and who's group is modeling the properties of such composites.

Crystallisation of lactose powder during mechanical deformation

Supervisor: Dr. Gwénaëlle Proust
ID: MSRC09
Date: 01.11.2012
Crystallisation is an important process in the production of lactose and the food industry is always looking into new ways to optimise this process. This project will focus in studying the state of crystallisation of lactose powders that will be subjected to different loading paths. To that end, the summer scholar will have to set up experimental procedures to deform the powders and he/she will characterise the deformed powders using optical and electronic microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The project will be conducted using the equipment available in the Schools of Civil Engineering and of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and at the Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis, co-supervised by Prof Tim Langrish and Dr. Gwénaëlle Proust.

High performance computing for the analysis of materials at the atomic scale

Supervisor: A/Prof Julie Cairney
ID: MSRC10
Date: 02.11.2012
Atom probe microscopy is a technique that is able to generate 3D maps showing the location and species of atoms within matter at the atomic scale, but the datasets are very large, containing tens of millions of atoms. The student in this project will be participating in the development of atom probe analysis algorithms that make use of the GPU to enable analysis in real time. These algorithms are written in MATLAB® using an easy to use commercial GPU library.

Effect of Metal Aging on Aeroelastic Characterestics

Supervisor: Dr Gareth A. Vio
ID: MSRC11
Date: 05.11.2012
Project Descrption: Stresses during an aircraft life affect the material properties of each component. This in turn has an effect n the aeroelastic properties of that aircraft. Currently regulation do not take into account the effect of aging on an airframe. A prime example of this aging effect are the wrinkles on the skin of the B-52. The project will look at the effect that the changes in materials properties have over the life of an aircraft by looking at the critical aerolastic parameters. This project will be co-supervised by Gareth Vio and Julie Cairney.