The
Department of Materials Engineering offers a Graduate Diploma in Materials
Engineering (GradDipMatEng) at Clayton. It is expected that most recruits to
this course will be drawn from graduates in science, applied science,
metallurgy, or in branches of engineering other than materials engineering who,
having been in employment for some time, find themselves in need of further
training in the materials area. Experience gained with overseas students
suggests that the course may have particular appeal to graduates from
developing countries. At this stage, it is not expected that the graduate
diploma will be taken as an immediate follow-up to a first degree, although
applications from suitably qualified candidates will be considered. The
graduate diploma will not be available to graduates in materials engineering
from this department.
The department believes there is a need for the course because much of the
current materials technology in Australia is of recent origin. Consequently,
there has been little opportunity for those people who are currently employed
in professional or middle management positions within materials technology to
acquire training in the fundamentals of their subject. Moreover, there is
little opportunity for such training elsewhere in Australia.
The course for the Graduate Diploma in Materials Engineering will comprise
subjects to the value of at least 48 credit points taken from the syllabus for
level three and level four of the undergraduate course in materials
engineering, with some suitable dispensation of prerequisites. MTE4525.04
(Project I) and MTE4526.06 (Project II) will normally be included among these
choices. In addition, it is expected that some candidates may need to undertake
preliminary subjects particularly relating to materials in which they may have
had little previous experience.
A course prescription will be arranged in consultation with each candidate and
must be approved by the head of the department. The selection of subjects will
be such as to emphasise the interdisciplinary nature of materials engineering
and to provide basic training in the three major classes of materials, ie
metals, polymers, and ceramics. Candidates will then be required to develop a
major interest in a chosen class of material. Subject outlines for the subjects
selected are to be found in the ´Subjects - all faculties' section of this
handbook.
Suitably
qualified graduates in engineering or science may undertake studies in the
Department of Materials Engineering towards the degrees of Master of
Engineering Science (Research) and Doctor of Philosophy in one of six research
programs: ceramics engineering, metal forming, corrosion engineering, physical
metallurgy, polymer engineering and surface engineering.
Candidates for the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy or Master of Engineering
Science (Research) undertake full-time supervised research work.
The major current research activities in the department include properties of
engineering plastics, rubbers and adhesives; polymer alloys and blends; polymer
viscoelasticity; solvent and gas permeability in polymers; ageing of polymers;
thermosets; liquid crystalline and hyperbranched polymers; conducting polymers
and blends; polymer composites; elastomers; sol-gel, polymer-ceramic
nanocomposites; corrosion and corrosion protection; damage and remanent life in
engineering materials; electrical and magnetic properties of alloys;
ultra-high-strength aluminium alloys; cast light alloys; light alloy design;
thermo-mechanical processing of steels; metals and metal forming; morphology
and deformation modelling and simulation; stress analysis; wear, erosion and
lifetime assessment of metals and ceramics; metal-matrix composites;
solidification processing; biomaterials; refractories; structural ceramics;
ceramic processing; ceramic powder processing; thermal sprayed coatings;
properties of surface coatings and films; mechanical properties of ceramics;
solid electrolyte materials; fule cell materials; analytical and high
resolution electron microscopy; and atom probe field ion microscopy.
Further details of the department's excellent research facilities and ongoing
research projects are available on request from the department.
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