Advanced Manufacturing and Materials for Space
In demanding environments like space, materials engineering reaches new heights, addressing the challenges of extreme temperatures, vacuum, radiation, high-speed debris, and wear. To meet strict payload and vehicle packaging requirements, these solutions must also prioritise minimising mass and clever deployment functions.
These challenges not only advance the frontiers of science, but also reflect the spirit of exploration that drives space discovery itself. The diverse team behind Swinburne’s interdisciplinary material science and engineering research, led by Jason Miller, has expertise across various material classes, including metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites.
Advanced manufacturing draws upon the expertise of a combination of materials, structural design, and process know-how, including physicist and engineering experts in the fields of radiation hardening, composites manufacture, and a broad range of additive manufacturing methods. Through innovative uses, we hope to solve challenges confronted by space missions, as well as real-world problems closer to home.
Our research
The cornerstone of this program is our ability to give functional characteristics to a surface by applying a coating. From materials that can protect satellites or lunar rovers against wear and tear to high-temperature materials for hypersonic flight, our researchers work with industry partners to engineer surface coatings.
Our interests also extend to the development of smart coatings, the ability to embed sensors, and self-cleaning surfaces. Similarly, advanced manufacturing and materials have a focus on functional structures.
The team is currently developing commercially relevant pathways to fabricate demonstrators, including launch vehicle control surfaces and satellite panels. This also extends to the application of additive manufacturing methods to enhance or repair structures and add multi-material features to components.
The Advanced Manufacturing and Materials for Space team collaborates with industry-leading Australian partners, including Gilmour Space, Titomic, Amiga Engineering, Rosebank Engineering, Hypersonix, ANSTO, and DST Group.
Current projects
Environmental barrier coatings
On a number of projects, the team is collaborating with Amiga Engineering to produce representative substrates to develop and manufacture coatings for internal engine surfaces and nozzles.
The outputs will have commercial applications in aviation, space, defence, and high-temperature processing environments.
Space vehicle shielding
Developing new material systems and fabrication approaches to produce shields that minimise the impact of radiation, temperature extremes, and collisions with debris.
Carbon composites
Advancing manufacturing and repair processes for carbon fibre reinforced polymer and carbon-carbon composite structures to deliver thermally stable components offers benefits across a range of aerospace vehicle platforms and with the potential to improve sustainability in a range of terrestrial applications.
In addition to this, development is underway to optimise multi-material structures and coatings for thermal coefficients of expansion, thermal conductivity, and emissivity.
Repair and enhancement of additive manufactured parts
Laser metal deposition (LMD) is a surfacing technology used for obtaining high-quality wear and corrosion-resistant coatings on a range of substrates. The technology is now well established as an industrial process and complements other coating technologies such as thermal spraying.
LMD can also be used as an additive manufacturing (AM) method to repair or add enhancements to structural components. We are working with Rosebank Engineering on advanced manufacturing methods for rocket propulsion components.
Explore our other research programs
Contact the Space Technology and Industry Institute
If your organisation would like to collaborate with us to solve a complex problem, or you simply want to contact our team, get in touch by calling +61 3 9214 5177 or emailing spaceinstitute@swinburne.edu.au.