Deakin Uni opens ARC Future Fibres Hub

A new Australian Research Council research and development centre has been established at Deakin University.

The $13.2 million Future Fibres Hub is designed to lead the development of future fibre-based materials, ranging from short polymer fibres for the medical, textile and industrial sectors and carbon fibre composites for the automotive industry. It is funded through the federal government’s Industrial Transformation Research Program.

The Hub will be led by Deakin under the guidance of IFM Director Professor Xungai Wang, and it will also involve Swinburne University of Technology. The five other industry partners include HeiQ, Carbon Revolution, Quickstep Automotive, Draggin Jeans, and Ear Science Institute Australia.

The launch of the Hub was attended by Deakin Vice-Chancellor Professor Jane den Hollander and the Federal Member for Corangamite, Sarah Henderson, within the university’s Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM) at the Waurn Ponds campus.

“The Future Fibres Hub will bring together world-leading fibre research and industry experts to create innovations in carbon fibres, nanofibres and high-value fibre applications,” said den Hollander.

“It builds on a strong history of advanced fibres research at Deakin through IFM and will truly benefit not just our community but the entire nation by allowing us to develop novel technologies for more sustainable advanced manufacturing of fibre materials and products.

“It will allow us to continue to make important advances in medical procedures such as human tissue engineering, through to safer clothing for activities like motorcycle racing and better, lighter and cheaper carbon fibre materials for the automotive sector.”

The Hub will also involve partner investigators from CSIRO, as well as from six international higher education institutions, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Oxford, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwest Switzerland, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, the University of Southern Mississippi and Tufts University.

Funding includes support for 10 research positions (Research Fellows or Research Engineers) each year for the next five years, as well as another five PhD students.

The initial three research programs are:

• Development of the emerging short polymer fibre and nanofibre industry, with HeiQ.
• Advanced development of high-performance carbon fibre-reinforced composite materials, particularly for the automotive industry, with Carbon Revolution and Quickstep Automotive.
• High-value fibre applications for fibres with a particular focus on biomedical and textile applications, with the Ear Science Institute Australia and Draggin Jeans.