Materials Australia Presents: ARC SEAM Roadshow, Wollongong

Surface Engineering: The Working Face for Industry

Presented by Distinguished Professor Christopher C. Berndt, Director ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre, Surface Engineering for Advanced Materials (SEAM)

"SEAM trains professionals for industry. Our early and mid career SEAM staff are considered as ‘plug-&-play’ by manufacturing industry to provide immediate economic outcomes." This is our original Mission Statement that has now transitioned into outcomes.

This presentation provides the background for the establishment of SEAM, our professional model by which SEAM interacts with industry, universities and national labs, as well as case histories that document our successes. Finally, we look forward to our plans for a sustainable future.

Some examples of SEAM/industrial interactions are:

• REFURBISHMENT AND ENHANCEMENT OF MINING EQUIPMENT: Metallurgical production of claddings for heavy industry. Over the past 4 years, SEAM has supported D&T to develop a high-quality laser cladding process. This has enabled them to refurbish a wider range of heavy-industry parts, in a range of materials -– each one optimised for different end-use applications, with performance often exceeding OEM spec
• COATING AND REPAIR OF MANUFACTURED COMPONENTS: Performance improvement and strengthen the process integrity through instrumentation and on-line defect detection. LaserBond partnered with SEAM to develop advanced process sensing enabling on-line defect detection. Unlocking a deeper understanding of product and process enabled better control, improving product quality, while adding capabilities that open the door to new products and services.
• SURFACE OPTIMIZATION OF COMPONENTS USING AN ADDITIVE/SUBTRACTIVE MACHINE: Component maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for aircraft and aerospace. Rosebank brought a need for a high-speed thin-film surface engineering capability to SEAM. These developments in additive manufacturing will increase the production efficiency and decrease costs, as well as provide lab-measured confidence in the performance of these new coatings.

Interaction and questions will be very much welcomed during the presentation which will be followed by some light refreshments.

Who is Chris Berndt?

Christopher C Berndt is a Distinguished Professor with Swinburne University of Technology, where he is the Director of the Australian Research Council Training Centre in Surface Engineering for Advanced Materials (SEAM). He has been with Swinburne since 2007 and is the founding Professor of Surface Science and Interface Engineering. Chris’ major discipline areas are “Materials Engineering” and “Manufacturing Engineering” with a sub-disciplinary expertise in the topics of ceramics, biomaterials, thick coatings, and thermal spray technology. He is considered a world authority in thermal spray technology. Chris is the Foundation Editor and now Emeritus Editor of the Journal of Thermal Spray Technology.

Chris’s employment history includes Monash University, Stony Brook University (NY-USA), where he remains an Adjunct Professor and NASA (Glenn RC). He is also an honorary Adjunct Professor with the Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar, India and was appointed Distinguished Professor with both the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad and IIT Madras, India. Chris has received numerous accolades for his work including an “Honorary membership” for demonstrated professional commitment and long-life learning by ASM International, in 2022.

Chris is especially proud of his students and postdoctoral fellows who have achieved professional prominence and earned good lives over the past 45 years.

We give thanks: We acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council (ARC). The Centre of Surface Engineering for Advanced Materials, SEAM, has been funded under the Industrial Transformation Training Centre (ITTC) scheme via Award IC180100005. We are grateful for the support of the industrial, university and other organization partners who have contributed to the establishment of SEAM.

Host or Publisher Surface Engineering for Advanced Materials (SEAM)