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Celebrating high achievers: Project team delivering capability improvements

Capability Improvement Award – Winner: Sustainment of Emergent Materials team

This collaborative team (working under the auspices of DMTC Project Team 5.77) has worked extensively on the development of laser additive deposition (LAD) technology for the past 10 years and has achieved significant outcomes for commercial and Defence customers.

Smiles all-round for members of the team awarded the DMTC Capability Improvement Award for 2020

For defence customers, innovative approaches to, and adoption of new technologies for, sustainment of fleets is crucial, especially in light of the cost pressures associated with life cycle support on military platforms. Through this project and previous enabling research, DMTC has been an integral partner in helping to generate a sovereign industrial capability in Australia in laser repair technology. RUAG Australia has shown repeatedly that repairing components, rather than replacing them, enables Defence to achieve the desired structural performance rates and fleet availability results at a fraction of the cost, and in fractions of the time.

“RUAG Australia continues to be a top performer in innovation in Australia. Working together with DMTC has directly proven that this passionate pursuit of innovation and collaborative research and development ensures solid benefits for all stakeholders,” Neil Matthews, Chief Technical Advisor & Senior Manager Additive Technologies, RUAG Australia said.

This project has not only demonstrated the successful geometrical restoration of actual aircraft components, but also the viability of LAD technology for repair of Defence-grade materials. Researchers from RUAG, Swinburne and RMIT developed and supported the establishment of state-of-the-art sustainment and repair laser cladding facility at RUAG which is now fully operational through the funding of the Defence Capability and Technology Demonstrator (CTD) Program. The work carried out by research partners, RMIT and Swinburne, ensured that the restored Defence components meet certification, operational and design requirements.