Advanced Alloys and Infrastructure Materials

IFM’s work on advanced alloys and infrastructure materials extends from fundamental to industrial scale. Our research is designed to increase profitability and competitiveness, extend product life and reduce energy consumption.

Advanced Alloys

Working with researchers in artificial intelligence, our team has created cutting-edge software that accelerates alloy design and optimises alloy processes, compared to traditional “trial and error” techniques.

The ARC Training Centre in Alloy Innovation for Mining Efficiency (mineAlloy), led by IFM, is training innovators to design the world’s best highly customised, long-life, wear-resistant components. Our research involves rapid development of customised alloys using 3D printing and novel characterisation.

Infrastructure Materials

Located at Deakin University’s Burwood Campus, the IFM Infrastructure Materials team has a research focus on addressing the grand challenge of our time, anthropogenic climatic change, by developing new solutions for construction materials, built infrastructure and our interaction with the environment, with:

• Advanced construction materials with enhanced performance and added functionality
• Novel structural health monitoring technologies and predictive models
• Reduced embodied carbon construction materials, including utilising waste resources

Our materials science and engineering solutions are helping to lower carbon emissions, value add and reduce lifetime costs of structures through application of our areas of expertise in the development of: concretes incorporating carbon nanotubes with enhanced strength, durability and functionality; low-cement concretes employing high-replacement percentage calcined treated PFAS-contaminated soils; novel, embeddable self-sensing cements with miniature sensors for structural and durability health monitoring; thermoelectric energy harvesting and electrical energy storing construction materials for net-zero energy use buildings; ultra-high performance nano-modified cement and concrete composites with advanced functionality.

Combined with a comprehensive technical understanding of these materials and dissemination of academic results, together with our Industry Partners, we are taking these technologies from the lab to the real world.

To learn more about the Infrastruture Materials team, click here.