The Innovative Manufacturing CRC (IMCRC), an Australian independent, for-impact cooperative research center, along with Australian industry partner InfraBuild and research organization CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, has made a manufacturing investment of $904,512 AUD ($106,073 AUD at IMCRC) for a 2021-22 research project to advance its manufacturing processes and explore alternative coating options that allow them to produce more damage and corrosion-resistant fencing products.
Australian soils are rich in minerals which also make them highly corrosive. Paint and polymeric barrier coatings commonly used to protect steel fences often suffer from coating defects which allow water in and thus lead to underlying corrosion.
By combining cold spray additive manufacturing with CSIRO’s patented Cold Spray ZAP technology, InfraBuild aims to modernize the manufacture of its steel fencing products. In collaboration with CSIRO, InfraBuild intends to validate the potential of cold spray metal and metal composite coatings as a viable coating for highly corrosive soils.
As part of the project, CSIRO researchers will investigate how recycled titanium waste powder can be used to make damage and corrosion-resistant steel posts.
Cold Spray ZAP is a solid state, low-cost additive technology that uses electrons sourced from electrical current to rearrange atomic structure, significantly improving density and flexibility of deposited titanium.
The project will also create the opportunity to develop a fully automated digital manufacturing production line using robotic coating application technology.
For more information:
CISRO
https://www.csiro.au/en/
IMCRC
https://www.imcrc.org/
Infrabuild
https://www.infrabuild.com/
