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The ARC Training Centre for Automated Manufacture of Advanced Composites (AMAC) allows research students/associates, academics and industry partners to solve real-world engineering challenges in a collaborative approach. This Centre will emulate and advance the Intellectual Capital (IC) centred philosophy; deeply integrating the industry partners into the planning, supervision and execution of research projects. This will ensure that both innovations and innovators are connected to real industry outcomes. Furthermore, the Centre will incorporate turnkey automated manufacturing facilities, infrastructure with direct global relevance.
Research Students
AMAC brings together a network of partner organisations, including national research institutions, composite technology service providers, and industry end-users, to collaboratively develop and apply cutting-edge composite technologies. Our research focuses on addressing practical challenges in specialised, high-value-added areas such as high-performance materials, composites, alloys, and polymers. We also explore cross-cutting technologies designed to de-risk, scale, and add value to Australian manufacturing.
While each project targets specific research goals, they also tackle real-world manufacturing challenges鈥攔anging from bespoke production to high-rate and innovative design鈥攗sing industrial-scale equipment. This integrated approach ensures that research outcomes are both technically advanced and industrially relevant.
By building shared expertise and incorporating international best practices into our research training, AMAC is helping to raise Australia's skill base in automated composite manufacturing. This positions Australian innovation at the forefront of global advancements in advanced materials and manufacturing technologies.
Industries
Top-level industry objectives and research gaps were identified to drive the centre research themes:
- Increase value-add: Maximising the embedded value of the manufactured parts. Key opportunities: light-weighting through bespoke design; passive shape adaptivity; augmentation with embedded sensors; selective reinforcement of existing manufacturing processes; optimising design and manufacture for repair and fatigue life.
- Increase capacity for production: Maximising the number of units that can be sold. Key opportunities: increasing the rate of production; decreasing errors and defects; increasing the agility of the manufacturing infrastructure to meet the broader market demands.
- Reduce embedded cost: Reducing the cost of production. Key opportunities: reducing labour costs and increasing time-on-task through automation; reducing scrap; shortening development cycles.
- Minimise barriers: Removing or reducing obstacles for composite manufacturers. Key opportunities: intelligent design software; identifying manufacturing and performance risks through simulation; unifying product development and production environments; digital export of design IP.
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Institutes
Due to strategic federal and institutional investment, UNSW is now host to Australia鈥檚 only automated fibre placement (AFP) facility for advanced composites. The facility is an enabler for industry change to a future of flexible, high value-add manufacturing that can rapidly produce physical exports. Significantly, the knowledge generated by the new generation of researchers and innovators on smarter designs for automated manufacture, enhancement of material functionality, embedded structural sensing capability, and optimal robot placement paths and processing parameters for maximum productivity will form the basis for digital exports.
Associates
The scope of the Centre is also a very significant feature. The breadth of interests, needs and motivations of the partner organisations in the proposal are evidence of the cross-sector applicability of the core technology, automated fibre placement (AFP). The Centre includes manufacturers aligned with aerospace, automotive, marine, civil, energy and sports sectors or markets. The flexibility of robotic work cells, along the ability to produce high-value, bespoke physical products or digital exports can also have an impact at enterprise level. Costs can be reduced due to the smaller footprint of robotic work cells and responsiveness to market demands for design and manufacture at low or high-volume can be improved.