SEAM Director, Distinguished Professor Chris Berndt presented an engaging talk on ‘Bio-engineering Applications for Thermal Spray Coatings’ at the very first Thermal Spray Society, ASM International virtual event.

This virtual event ‘Coatings for Anti-Virus, Bacteria and Fungus Applications’ was a preview of what is to come at the International Thermal Spray Conference (ITSC 2021), it provided international participants a sampling of the quality and diversity of technical programming that can be expected at the annual ITSC event, scheduled for May 2021 in Quebec City, Canada.

Chris Berndt’s paper presented how biofilms and bofouling impact many areas of our lives, from our shower walls to huge marine ship hulls, and keeping them in check remains a difficult ongoing engineering challenge.

The solution begins at the material surface, where bacterial and organisms attach and proliferate. We already know what surface properties are effective against bacteria to prevent adhesion and growth, but fabrication of these surfaces remains a challenge. Chris demonstrated how a range of thermal spray processes have the capability to create controlled surfaces with tailor-made properties. Using these processes, novel materials can be applied as coatings, to create advanced antibacterial and anti-fouling surfaces that successfully resist the growth of biofilms and biofouling.

Download Slides:

The slides from this presentation can be downloaded from this link.

Watch Presentation:

Watch the complete suite of presentations for the ‘Coatings for Anti-Virus, Bacteria and Fungus Applications’ event.

SEAM was delighted to sponsor and be involved in an intellectual conversation with leading industry experts in this important discussion regarding how thermal spray applications can be used to deposit antimicrobial compounds on different types of high-touch surfaces.

An engaging learning session with discussions around mechanisms of anti-bacterial or anti-viral behaviour of coatings which help thermal spray researchers and fabricators with proper materials selection and processing. By applying these biocidal thermal spray coatings in large scale, the industry will potentially be able to support the effort to reduce the risk of propagation and transmission of viruses and bacteria in a variety of places (e.g., public transportation and hospitals); thereby protecting all of us.

SEAM thanks the organisers of this special event:

• Charles Kay, Vice President (ASB Industries, Inc.)
• John Koppes, TST Engineered (Coating Solutions)
• William Lenling,  CTO (TST Engineered Coating Solutions)
• Rogerio Lima, Senior Research Office (National Research Council of Canada)
• André McDonald, Professor and Associate Chair (Research) (University of Alberta).

Questions about this research can be directed to the co-authors: Pham Duy Quang (dqpham@swinburne.edu.au) and  Andrew Ang (aang@swinburne.edu.au).

If you are interested in engaging with SEAM email seam@swinburne.edu.au.

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A SEAM publication on the bactericidal action delivered by rigid nanopillar arrays stems from the mechanical rupture of the bacterial cell membrane; however, the precise mechanism may be unique to the individual nanopillar geometries.

In this work, the researchers present a new model of mechano-bactericidal action, which is specific to the elasticity of highly ordered arrays of symmetrical silicon nanopillars. Specific control over the height and spacing, simultaneously was achieved using carefully controlled deep UV immersion lithography and plasma etching. At a certain aspect ratio, nanopillar elasticity contributes to the onset of pillar-pillar interactions upon bacterial adsorption to the surface. While previous mechano-bactericidal models have described the nanopillar surface as a ‘bed of nails’ which assumes complete rigidity in the surface structures this work confirms the elastic pillar-pillar interactions to be reversible cluster formations which are capable of delivering pillar-induced tension to the bacterial membrane due to their flexible bending and straightening motions. The enhanced rates of bactericidal activity observed in this study for pillars of 360 nm and 35 nm diameter can be attributed to the stress-induced deflection of the nanopillars upon bacterial membrane adsorption which generates increased stretching of the membrane as the pillars deflect and revert to their original position as opposed to the mechanistic action developed for rigid nanopillars i.e., those found on cicada wing surfaces.

Article authors are: Elena Ivanova, Denver Linklater, Marco Werner, Vladimir Baulin, XiuMei Xu, Nandi Vrancken, Sergey Rubanov, Eric Hanssen, Jason Wandiyanto, Vi Khanh Truong, Aaron Elbourne, Shane Maclaughlin, Saulius Juodkazis, and Russell Crawford.

Congratulations to all, including SEAM Chief Investigators Professors Elena Ivanova, Saulius Juodkazis, and Russell Crawford.

Read full paper on following link: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/05/22/1916680117

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A new partnership between Swinburne University of Technology and Lightning Protection International (LPI) will develop novel materials for LPI’s lightning protection devices known as “air terminals”.

The industry-led research project has been awarded $154.000 by the Australian Government through the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (IMCRC), matching LPI’s research and development investment making $308,000 total.

The project will be led by Swinburne’s Dr Andrew Ang and Dr Rosalie Hocking, and LPI’s Dr Franco D’Alessandro.

It will enable the launch of next-generation air terminals that focus on corona minimisation. During a thunderstorm, all objects (especially sharp ones) can produce a charge in the air around their extremities that can be counterproductive for air terminals whose job it is to capture the lightning strike. This principle is now supported by a wide range of international research findings.

Air terminals intercept lightning strikes and safely pass their extremely high currents to ground through connected ’downconductors’, thus protecting structures.

“One of the challenges with air terminals is that water droplets and air pollution deposits can impact their performance,” says project co-lead Dr Rosalie Hocking.

“The novel materials we are developing will overcome this issue,” adds Dr Franco D’Alessandro, Chief Technology Officer of LPI.

The project aims to benefit manufacturing and other industry sectors, both in Australia and internationally. It will focus on five key areas:

• Preparation of novel materials for dealing with water droplets and pollutant degradation
• Build on the expertise and critical mass of the ARC Training Centre SEAM led by Distinguished Professor Christopher Berndt and Professor Peter Kingshott. This makes the project part of Australia’s premier manufacturing research and development centre, focussing on delivering outcomes for Australian manufacturers.
• Material characterisation and screening
• Prototype production and field testing
• Product evaluation and commercial recommendations

Mr David Chuter, Managing Director and CEO of IMCRC, points out the value of collaborative research and development.

“This research collaboration is a great example of a manufacturing SME being ambitious and strategically entering a partnership with an Australian university to solve real world problems and develop tangible and exportable technology. We are delighted to see Tasmania’s LPI work with Victoria’s Swinburne University.”

The project team thanks the IMCRC for their support.

Media Release PDF

If you are interested to obtain further information email seam@swinburne.edu.au or vstefanovski@swinburne.edu.au.

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SEAM Chief Investigator Professor Elena Ivanova (RMIT University node) was interviewed for an article published on BBCs Future Health segment.

Research is continuously looking at ways surfaces can be resilient to microbes and aid in our health and stop infections and the spread of disease.

Read full article here: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200529-the-surfaces-that-kill-bacteria-and-viruses

“Cicada insect wings are famous for their self-cleaning effect,” says Elena Ivanova, a molecular biochemist at RMIT University in Australia. Their wings are superhydrophobic, meaning that water droplets bounce off them, just as they do off lotus leaves, allowing contaminants to roll off with the water. More importantly, she says, they’re studded with tiny spikes on the surface that prevent bacterial cells from being able to settle and grow on the surface.

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Read the Open Access  review article ‘Thermal Spray High-Entropy Alloy Coatings: A Review’ published with Springer Nature in the Journal of Thermal Spray Technology, with Ashok Meghwal and Ameey Anupam, SEAM Associate Investigators, as first authors, together with B. S. Murty, Christopher C. Berndt, Ravi Sankar Kottada and Andrew Siao Ming Ang.

“Impressively the article was finalized over a critical point as we undergo isolation and a global pandemic and is testament to the scientific cooperation between high-entropy alloy research groups in Australia, including the ARC Training Centre in Surface Engineering for Advanced Materials (SEAM)) and India over this challenging period”, said Ashok Meghwal.

Abstract High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are a new generation of materials that exhibit unique characteristics and properties, and are demonstrating potential in the form of thermal spray coatings for demanding environments. The use of HEAs as feedstock for coating processes has advanced due to reports of their exceptional properties in both bulk and coating forms. Emerging reports of thermal sprayed HEA coatings outperforming conventional materials have accelerated further exploration of this field. This early-stage review discusses the outcomes of combining thermal spray and HEAs. Various synthesis routes adopted for HEA feedstock preparation and their properties are discussed, with reference to the requirements of thermal spray processing. The HEA feedstock is then compared and correlated with coating microstructure and phase composition as a function of the thermal spray processing route.

Subsequently, the mechanical behavior of thermal spray HEA coatings is summarized in terms of porosity, hardness, and tribological properties, along with their oxidation and electrochemical properties, followed by their potential applications. The thermal spray methods are contrasted against laser cladding and surface alloying techniques for synthesizing thick HEA coatings. Furthermore, HEAs that have displayed excellent properties via alternative processing routes, but have not been explored within the framework of thermal spray, are recommended.

Read and Download the article here: https://lnkd.in/ghCxnW9

Email vstefanovski@swinburne.edu.au for any queries and questions.

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Swinburne researchers have developed a highly efficient solar absorbing film that absorbs sunlight with minimal heat loss and rapidly heats up to 83°C in an open environment.

The graphene metamaterial film has great potential for use in solar thermal energy harvesting and conversion, thermophotovoltaics (directly converting heat to electricity), solar seawater desalination, wastewater treatment, light emitters and photodetectors.

The researchers have developed a prototype to demonstrate the photo-thermal performance and thermal stability of the film. They have also proposed a scalable and low-cost manufacturing strategy to produce this graphene metamaterial film for practical applications.

“In our previous work, we demonstrated a 90 nm graphene metamaterial heat-absorbing film,” says Professor Baohua Jia, SEAM Lead Chief Investigator and founding Director of the Centre for Translational Atomaterials.

“In this new work, we reduced the film thickness to 30 nm and improved the performance by minimising heat loss. This work forms an exciting pillar in our atomaterial research.”

Lead author Dr Keng-Te Lin says: “Our cost-effective and scalable structured graphene metamaterial selective absorber is promising for energy harvesting and conversion applications. Using our film an impressive solar to vapour efficiency of 96.2 per cent can be achieved, which is very competitive for clean water generation using renewable energy source.”

Co-author Dr Han Lin adds: “In addition to the long lifetime of the proposed graphene metamaterial, the solar-thermal performance is very stable under working conditions, making it attractive for industrial use. The 30 nm thickness significantly reduced the amount of the graphene materials, thus saving the costs, making it accessible for real life applications.”

The research is published in Nature Communications and has been funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project and the ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre in Surface Engineering for Advanced Materials (SEAM).

For questions or queries email vstefanovski@swin.edu.au.

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