Recognised internationally as an outstanding research-intensive university, UWA is focused on growing innovation and industry engagement at a place where bright ideas are made every day and helping translate them into commercial reality. Here are just two examples.

Mapping the earth from above to discover economic mineral resources

UWA has been collaborating with Xcalibur Multiphysics, a world leader in airborne geophysical surveys, since 2005, a relationship that is generating not only new technologies but also offering research opportunities for early career scientists.

Xcalibur has a fleet of aircraft with gravity, electromagnetic, magnetic and radiometric sensors that can map subsurface mineral, energy and water resources over large areas where the researchers involved in the collaboration – Dr Andrew Sunderland, Eric Steele, Professor Ju Li and Emeritus Professor David Blair – are experts in mechanical instrumentation and electronics.

Through their work, the team has generated patentable electromagnetic and gravity sensing technologies that the company is licensed to use with its fleet of aeroplanes, technologies that allow Xcalibur to explore deeper into the Earth and enable discovery of economic mineral resources.

“Electromagnetic methods are particularly effective at discovering massive sulphide ore bodies which contain the copper, nickel, cobalt and other minerals needed for sustainable energy generation and electric vehicles,” Dr Sunderland said.

“The new technologies will also allow Xcalibur to map complex geological and hydrogeological features at significantly higher resolution. This will assist Australian water-resource managers develop efficient water management plans, understand salinity problems and identify new groundwater resources.” Professor Blair said the research was part of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav). “Many of our techniques were inspired by instrumentation developed for gravitational wave detectors, with the project a great example of how fundamental research provides practical benefits," Professor Blair said.

Xcalibur director Teo Hage said the expertise available at UWA provided an invaluable resource for the company.

^{The research team from Xcalibur and UWA (left to right) Eric Steele (Xcalibur R&D engineer), Joogroop Singh (UWA MSc student), Aidan Loasby (UWA PhD student), Andrew Sunderland (UWA research fellow).}

“Although Xcalibur maintains a research and development capability, in-house projects tend to focus on efforts to improve productivity,” Mr Hage said.

“Our continued successful collaboration with UWA allows us to collaboratively pursue new ideas and concepts that are outside the scope of our internal R&D risk profile.”

Through the collaboration, Xcalibur, UWA and the Australian Research Council (ARC) are also supporting the research of two PhD and two Masters of Engineering students.

Technology to improve lubrication in machinery and manufacturing

Industries such as manufacturing, engineering and space exploration might soon have access to a new, advanced lubricant courtesy of a technology being fast-tracked towards commercialisation by Ablano, a spin-out company from UWA.

Through its collaboration with Head of UWA’s Department of Chemical Engineering Professor Hui Tong Chua and his research group, Ablano plans to scale up the technology to create lubricating materials that will ultimately assist in better running machinery and lowering emissions.

The UWA team has developed a novel manufacturing method (the subject of several patent applications that have been licensed exclusively to Ablano) that concentrates light from a lamp to transform precursor powders into nanoparticles, with average sizes less than one-thousandth the diameter of the typical human hair.

Although Ablano and the UWA research team have demonstrated the method can be used with a suite of materials that hold promise as lubricants, the first material being explored is boron nitride.

“The size of the boron nitride nanoparticles, their hollow, spherical structure and crystalline nature, combined with their properties of being stable, strong and bio-compatible should result in a range of new, improved lubricants and lubricant additives,” Professor Chua said.

As an example, when used in car engines, these materials are expected to reduce engine wear and fuel consumption as well as improve power and torque performance. The team hopes to complete the technology validation tests early next year as part of its commercialisation milestones.

An expert in chemical engineering, Professor Chua is already well known for the successful spin off of his catalytic methane cracking technology, now known as the Hazer Process, as Hazer Group Ltd., which raised $5m in its Initial Public Offering on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX:HZR) in November 2015.