Innovative Physics: Structures and Materials

Bachelor of Science in Nanotechnology at the University of New South Wales

Careers at the Defence Science at Technology Organisation (DSTO)

Materials Science and Engineering at the University of New South Wales

What's a composite?

This website provides industrial information about a range of composites. Of particular value is the link to 'Composites 101'.

Putting it together: A NOVA site

NOVA is the Science in the News website for the Australian Academy of Science. This page is about composite materials. The focus is on plastics, but like all NOVA sites there is an extensive range of support including: Key text, Activities, Glossary, Further reading and Useful sites.

Modeling Composite Materials with LEGO

A page showing how LEGO blocks can be used to illustrate reinforcement in a structure. This is a University of Wisconsin site and there is a link to there other educational projects in the Materials area.

I wonder what makes KEVLAR so strong?

A MicroWorlds page. It provides some information about Kevlar's properties and has links to five clues that explain them. The clues are mainly about polymer chemistry.

Cooperative Research Centre: Advanced Composite Structures

This is the home page for the CRC. The link to News has interesting articles on their research. The CRC is based at Fisherman's Bend in Melbourne.

Uses of Carbon Fibres

A comprehensive and very visual coverage of carbon fibres. There is a section at the bottom of the web page on their mechanical properties.

Kevlar: The DuPont page

The page by the inventor of Kevlar, DuPont. Technical specifications of the material can be accessed.

What is Carbon

This website explains what carbon fibres are and some of the myths behind them.

UNSW School of Materials Science & Engineering - Research

The school of materials science and engineering at UNSW has information avaliable on their latest research. The articles contain short descriptions of what the outcome of the research was. If the research has been published in a journal the full reference can be found at the bottom of the article.

Beam under transverse loads (Applet)

A java application that allows students to study shear, moment and deflection distribution over the length of a beam under various transverse loads.

Polymer Modeling Activity

An activity using paper clips to model linear, branched and cross-linked polymers. This activity is part of clue one from the MicroWorlds page, which explains the properties of Kevlar.

Polymer Fiber Orientation Activity

An activity exploring how the orientation of fibers affects the strength of materials. This activity is part of clue two from the MicroWorlds page, which explains the properties of Kevlar.

Using polarized light to illustrate stress patterns in bones

This activity uses polarized light in certain plastics to reveal stress fractures. These can be used to illustrate stress fractures in bones.

The NPL bicycle frame design project (Java applet)

A website that allows students to determine how different materials affect the production of a bicycle. It allows the examination of how different cross section designs and materials can affect bending, cost and weight.

Materials and Structures student workshops at CSIRO

This webpage provides details on the materials and structures workshop offered by the CSIRO. The activities include: Materials and structures testing using specialised equipment Axial tests to obtain accurate load extension data Observing plastic and elastic behaviour Using models of structures to identify and measure forces Examining the effects of heat treatment on metals Studying the effects of temperature on toughness

Hooke's Law Applet (Java)

A java application from that uses a graph to demonstrate Hooke's law. It is one of many physlets avaliable from webphysics.

Hooke's Law multistep applet

This is a multistep module that looks at Hooke's law from Schools Matter. There are many other modules that can be accessed from this site by using the site map.

Some of the History of Carbon Fibre

A column that details some of the history of carbon fibres and suggests some of the possible uses for the future. There is also a column about shake shingles and the materials of the future for roof shingling that can be accessed via the next button.

Mark Ketchum's Bridge Engineering Page

A page showing different bridges that Mark Ketchum has worked on. There are coloured photos and a description of most bridges. The bridges show a variety of different structural designs.

Carbon Fibre Fabric Strengthening of Little River Bridge

This document is a report into the project to strength Little River Bridge on the Princes Freeway in Victoria. It examines the problems with the original design of the bridge and how the new design was developed to overcome these shortfalls.

The use of Composite Materials in Boeing 7E7 aircrafts

This Boeing media report from 2003 details how composite materials are being used in the design of Beoing 7E7 aircrafts. It discusses some of the reasons why the change is being made from the traditional aluminium design.

Australia's National Local Government Newspaper - Strengthening bridges

An article found in the Australia's National Local Government Newspaper about how bridges in Tasmania were being strengthened in 2001 to support the increased demands on the bridges. Please note that the link for further information provided by the article is no longer active. Instead an overview of the products used can be found at http://www.basf-cc.com.sg/en/products/ConcreteRepairandProtectionSystems/MBrace/Pages/default.aspx

Single Walled Nanotubes

A detailed explanation of how nanotubes are built using graphite as an example. A java applet illustrating different sized and types of graphite tubes is found at the bottom of the page.

Nanotubes and Buckyballs

This webpage contains illustrated information about the difference in structure of single wall and multi wall nanotubes. There is some information about the properties and uses of these nanotubes. There is also a short illustrated description of buckyballs.

Carbon Nanotubes Gear Simulation

This website contains numerous animations of different gears made from nanotubes. Animations are run from the website with Windows Media player.

Scientific American - Search (magazine)

This is the website of Scientific American. There are many articles, podcasts, vidoes, slideshows, images, columns and interactive pages avaliable for free access. It covers all areas of science including science education and is constantly updated with new content.

Centre for Nanotechnology

This is the website of the Centre for Nanotechonolgy, which is part of NASA. There is information about how NASA is utalising this technology, and career profiles. Of particular interest is the gallery which contains images, vidoes, animations, webcasts, presentations and animations.

E-drexler.com - The Trajectory of Nanotechnology

E-drexler.com is a webpage devoted to exploring how nanotechnology is changing molecular engineering and manufactoring. There are many links to other interesting webpages relevant to each topic discussed. Nanofactories: The movie is worth looking at.

Nanotechnology Journal Page

This journal focuses on the uses of nanotechnology across all areas of science. There are many recently published free articles avaliable to read and download, but be aware that older articles may require a subscription to view.

The Innovation Group

This webpage sells equipment for nanotechnology anaylsis. There are many different types of equipment featured with photos and specifications for each.

Materials Research Society

The homepage for the Materials Research Society. The link to news has interesting articles about new materials.

Microworlds - An interactive tour of research at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source

This website provides an interactive tour of research at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source. Of particular value is the link to Information for teachers which contains classroom activities.

Frank Potter's Science Gems - Engineering

Frank Potter's webpage is updated regularly with weblinks to all sorts of science pages. The focus of this page is science related to engineering which contains the materials and structures section. There are many other useful links under the physical science pages.

Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Composite Structures

The homepage for the Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Composite Structures (CRC-ACS). It contains some information about what is happening in Australia in materials research.

Cooperative Research Centers Australia

The homepage for Cooperative Research Centers. This is a government project trying to link researchers with industry. Of particular interest may be the quarterly magazine 'Success Through Innovation' which contains information about the application of science research into industry. These magazines are found under the Publications, events and media page.

CAST Cooperative Research Centre

The homepage for CAST Cooperative Research Centre (CAST CRC). Information about the current state of research projects including if the research is possible to apply into industry yet can be found under the research, and news and events (media releases) pages.

Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Association of Australia

The homepage for Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Association of Australia a not-for-profit organisation to promote the pusuit of science. Media releases contains some interesting articles. Of interest may also be the Fact Sheet - The Impact of CRCs on the Australian Education System. It contains information on programs for schools developed by different industries.