Auckland hosts international materials conference

Auckland hosts international materials conference

Common problems which plague a range of industries will be the focus of the 4th International Conference on Advanced Materials Development and Performance (AMDP 05) at The University of Auckland from July 11 -13, 2005.

The Conference, which has in the past been hosted by The University of Auckland (1997), The University of Tokushima, Japan (1999) and the Kyungpook National University in Korea (2002), is this year being hosted again by The University of Auckland’s Faculty of Engineering.

Head of the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering Professor George Ferguson says a wide range of topics will come under scrutiny, including advanced alloys, surface coatings, electronic materials, polymers and composites, mechanical properties of materials and nanotechnology.

“Materials science and engineering plays a crucial role in advancing the research and development sector in a modern economy. This is evident with materials research becoming more applied and responding to the needs of industry.

“For example, one of the topics to be discussed at the Conference is fatigue or failure by repeated stress in materials. This is a serious problem and we have dedicated a session to hear from experts who have looked at the issue in different industrial settings.”

More than 250 researchers have registered for the three-day conference and Professor Ferguson says presenters are leading researchers in the advanced materials area.

“We are delighted with the calibre and number of presenters and participants. Our keynote speakers are breaking new ground in their fields. Many of the presentations are also tackling new challenges, or old problems with new ideas.

“One of our keynote speakers, Professor Hiroki Haraguchi from Japan, is looking at how materials interact with the human body. This is a new area of research and we look forward to his presentation.”

The event’s three keynote speakers are:

Professor Ke Lu

Ke Lu is Professor and Director of the Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Director of Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science. Professor Lu has received several honours and awards, including the Third World Academy TWNSO Technology Prize (2000), Ho-Leung-Ho-Lee Technology Science Award (1999), ISMANAM’98 Gold Medal and Junior Scientist Award (1998), and the Hasiguti Foundation Prize (2002). He is an elected member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Third World Academy of Sciences, the German Academy of Natural Scientists, and a member of the International Committee on Nanostructured Materials. Professor Lu’s research covers synthesis, processing, structural characterisation, properties and performance, thermal stability, and phase transformation of nanostructured materials. He has authored and co-authored 260 journal publications, three book chapters and holds 21 patents.

An expert on nanostructured metals and amorphous alloys, Professor Lu will speak about “Processing and properties of metallic materials with nanostructured surface layers” at 9.30am on July 11.

Professor Seock-Sam Kim

Seock-Sam Kim is Professor at the School of Mechanical Engineering and Dean of the College of Engineering at Kyungpook National University, South Korea. His research is related to ceramic wear mechanism under rolling and sliding friction, ceramic coatings, numerical analysis of surface damage based on contact and fracture mechanics. Professor Kim is also interested in the thermo-mechanical effects on coating tribology. He received the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Scientific Award (2002) and Yuri-Gagarin Medal from Russia (1998) for his contributions to science and engineering.

Professor Kim will talk about “Advanced tribology of ceramics and surface texturing” on July 12 at 9.30am.

Professor Hiroki Haraguchi

Hiroki Haraguchi is Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the Nagoya University in Japan. He is the author or co-author of some 530 research articles, reviews and books. His research interest is in the development of highly-sensitive analytical methods by analytical atomic spectrometry, functional separation methods and sophisticated/hyphenated techniques for chemical speciation analysis. Professor Haraguchi’s Extended All Present Theory of the Elements implies that all geochemical materials as well as all living organisms (animals, plants, microorganisms) on the earth might contain all the elements in the periodic table. The extreme goal of the Extended All Present Theory of the Elements is to prove the existence of all elements in one biological cell, which can be called “cell microcosm”.

Professor Haraguchi will share his theory with the Conference at 9.10am on July 13.

A full list of speakers and the Conference programme can be viewed at: http://www.amdp2005.auckland.ac.nz/

Conference Details:

Title: International Conference on Advanced Materials Development and Performance

Date: July 11 – 13, 2005

Venue: Faculty of Engineering, The University of Auckland, 20 Symonds Street, Auckland.

Media are welcome to attend.

ENDS

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