Minerals processing
ANSTO held a workshop for representatives of WMC, including WMC Resources Ltd, Group Technology, Olympic Dam Operations (WMC ODO) and other WMC operations and ANSTO scientists in order to discuss common interests and research areas. As a minerals producer,
WMC Resources Ltd were particularly interested in ANSTO’s expertise in environmental impact monitoring and solutions, water treatment, waste management and process optimisation.
Several projects with WMC Divisions resulted and other joint initiatives were identified.
Radiation technology
ANSTO continued to provide a traceable high- dose dosimeter supply, measurement and calibration service to commercial radiation services in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.
The organisation’s gamma irradiation facilities are used to process materials such as medical devices, human tissue grafts, microbiological test kits, tropical fruit, and polymers and for sterilising up to 14 million Queensland fruit fly pupae per week for the agriculture industry.
ANSTO’s main irradiation facility, the Gamma Technology Research Irradiator (GATRI) was issued with a facility licence by ARPANSA.
ANSTO also maintained its licences from the Therapeutic Goods Administration and the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service.
Sustainability and international competitiveness of industry
Postgraduate student Vanessa Peterson adjusts ANSTO’s Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) instrument. The instrument is used to probe the nanostructure of materials in order to gain a better understanding of their properties.
Nanostructure studies
ANSTO has a range of skills and facilities that are ideally suited to studies of the structure of materials on the nanoscale - on the scale of molecular assemblies or macromolecules.
Collaborative research with Australian industry was undertaken on problems ranging from the ranking of coal for blast furnace charcoal to the hydration of cellulose fibres used in the manufacture of fibreboard. Scientists used Small and Ultra Small Angle Neutron Scattering and other techniques to probe the nanostructure of materials in order to gain a better understanding of their properties. One highlight of this work was the correlation between the porosity of charcoal and its efficiency in purifying metal in a blast furnace.
Staff also worked on collaborative projects to obtain insights into the structural evolution of sols and gels for the production of nanostructured materials. An important outcome of ANSTO’s collaboration with the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (Saclay, France), which began in 1994, was the further development of scattering techniques and associated mathematical models for investigating the structure of porous materials.
ANSTO scientists used facilities at the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source at the Argonne National Laboratory in the United States to continue their study of mesostructured materials. They used small angle neutron scattering contrast variation techniques to investigate the mechanism by which mesostructured materials form via surfactant self assembly and templating.
Such materials are currently the subject of intense Australian and international research efforts due to their potential applications in areas such as waste remediation, ion exchange and molecular separation, biomedicine/biosensors and catalysis.
A provisional patent application embodying ANSTO’s technology was filed.
The collaborative research agreement signed in 1998 with the US National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST) continued to provide access to world-class neutron scattering facilities that complement those at ANSTO. Studies initiated in 1997 with NIST on how shear forces can be used to control the nanostructure of gels, continued. A partnership with the Western Australian Petroleum Research Centre was developed to study the nanostructure of oil-bearing rocks to lead to a better understanding of oil recovery. ANSTO is a core participant in the Cooperative Research Centre for Polymers and continued to work with research and industry collaborators. ANSTO led studies on how polymer chains entangle during the complex manufacturing processes and how this entanglement influences the properties of the manufactured item.
Safety and life of welded structures
ANSTO helped develop a new program of six research projects for the power generation industry. The program, which will commence in July 2001, is a collaborative effort between several partners within the CRC for Welded Structures and was successful in attracting sponsorship from ten power generating companies across four States.
Sustainability and international competitiveness of industry
Computer simulation of a steel super heater header from a power station showing how the component is affected by the stress of changing operating temperatures.
Areas of study will include the development of new weld repair techniques for extending the life of critical power plant components and the development of techniques for more accurately estimating the remaining life of high energy piping systems.
Remaining life assessment of power station components
Through its operation of the HIFAR research reactor, ANSTO has developed a high level of expertise and skill in analysing and measuring the effects of extreme heat on materials and welds. Using this expertise, ANSTO assisted a Queensland Power Industry customer by developing algorithms for on-line computer calculation of consumed creep-fatigue life under changing operating conditions. These changing conditions have resulted from deregulation of the power industry, which has forced power suppliers to become more competitive and thus more adaptable to demand.
The on-line predictions can also be used to target important safety inspections, and to assess the true costs of differing operational regimes.
Interface engineering of multilayered structures This project, which began in July 2000, is building on ANSTO’s skills in sol-gel processing, plasma surface conditioning and atomic layer deposition for engineering thin oxide films and interfaces with applications in optics, optoelectronics, biomedical sensors and implantable devices for functional electrical stimulation. A particular emphasis of the project is to optimise the technology platform for applications relevant to Australian industry, in collaboration with selected CRCs and industry partners.
Research during the year focused on the development of novel processing techniques and new chemical precursors for producing engineered films of titania and lithium niobate, both of which are important materials in the areas of photonics and opto-electronics.
Sustainability and international competitiveness of industry
A new technique developed for testing radioactive components
In 1999 ANSTO’s materials scientists began developing a refinement of the ’small punch test’, a miniature specimen testing technique used to determine the mechanical properties of nuclear components. The technique was originally developed to test nuclear components that were in service, and therefore radioactive.
The small punch test involves taking ultra-small samples that can be removed without damage to the component and that, because they are so small, give off only a small amount of radiation. ANSTO is refining the test and combining it with finite element computer modelling techniques to extract additional information about the strength and toughness of nuclear plant and components.
The new test was applied to safety studies on HIFAR. It was also tested on embrittled steels from coal fired power stations as part of a collaboration with the Department of Chemistry, Materials and Forensic Science at the University of Technology, Sydney and with the School of Physics and Materials
Engineering at Monash University.
It also has potential as a useful tool to Australian industry for life consumption analysis of aging industrial components.
A computer simulation of the ’small punch test’
showing the evolution of material plasticity in the sample as the spherical punch is pushed upwards through the sample. The sample is 0.5 mm thick.
Part of this work was undertaken by graduate students from Université Paris-Sud (France) and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland) under the supervision of ANSTO staff. Collaboration was initiated with Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique (France), to develop new methods for investigating the mechanical properties of thin films while simultaneously imaging the films under a microscope. ANSTO also began a collaboration with Chimie de la Matière Condensée, Université Pierre et Marie Curie/CNRS, France on the use of advanced spectroscopic techniques for investigating chemical interactions on the surface of sol-gel matrixes.
Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation Process (PI3) PI3is a patented process developed at ANSTO to produce wear-resistant surfaces in metal components at low temperatures. PI3systems have been sold by ANSTO to research organisations in Germany, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Australia. In order to establish the technology for industrial applications, expressions of interest were sought from Australian industry to license the technology. Of the 30 companies that responded, seven were asked to present proposals and one was selected to work with ANSTO in commercialising the technology for the industrial market.