Titanium research: Professor Brian Gabbitas says the MBIE funding is an affirmation that the University of Waikato is still the key titanium research organisation in New Zealand.
The Waikato Centre for Advanced Materials (WaiCAM) has been awarded Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE) funding to complete research into novel ways of producing high-quality titanium and titanium products in New Zealand.
WaiCAM researchers are working on two projects, both for two year durations and worth a combined value of $1.1m per annum, looking at ways to further develop and commercialise the titanium process industry.
Associate Professor Brian Gabbitas says the funding is an affirmation that the University of Waikato is still the key titanium research organisation in New Zealand.
Forefront of the titanium industry
“This research funding means the university can continue to develop our laboratories and continue to train scientists and engineers so when the titanium industry in New Zealand is better developed we will continue to be at the forefront.”
The first project is looking at how to up-scale the process of using titanium powder to create extruded and forged titanium products.
Making high performance products
The second is a collaborative project with TiDA (Titanium Industry Development Association), Industrial Research Limited, GNS Science and the University of Auckland, focusing on various processing technologies for the manufacture of products using different titanium powder alloy compositions.
University of Waikato researchers are specifically focussed on the processing of titanium alloy powder to make high performance titanium alloy products with good strength, ductility and fracture behaviour.
Titanium alloys have the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any metal, and are used for components and structural elements in the aerospace, medical and automotive industries and in the latest laptops and cellphones.