The Department

Metallurgy and then Materials Engineering has been a core Bachelor degree program of the University of Wollongong since its establishment as a University College of the University of New South Wales in 1962. For forty years, the degree course was the major academic responsibility of the staff of an independent Department (1962-1998) and then, Discipline (1998-2002). However, a restructure of the Faculty occurred early in 2003 in response to low undergraduate enrolments in Engineering, with Materials becoming part of the School of Mechanical, Materials and Mechatronic Engineering - a radical change in status that offers new challenges, as well as new opportunities.

Future decades will see how the fortunes of Materials unfold at the University of Wollongong over the new millennium, but the account given here concerns the history of Materials over the previous four decades, a period defined by the existence of the discipline as an autonomous unit within the Faculty of Engineering. Over these forty years, the four Professors shown in the photographs (Brinson, Plumbridge, Kennon and Dunne) provided the leadership of the Department or Discipline.

The Sixties and Seventies

Geoffrey Brinson was appointed as the Foundation Professor of Metallurgy in 1969 - a position endowed by Australian Iron and Steel Pty Ltd. He joined the Department of Metallurgy at Wollongong towards the end of 1961 after spending four years in the Department of Metallurgy at the University of Sheffield. At this time, the "embryonic University" had been in existence since 1952, offering diploma courses under the auspices of the NSW University of Technology, which subsequently became the University of New South Wales. The resident lecturer of the Department during this period was Tom Barnes.

It was not until 1962 that the institution formally became a College of the University of New South Wales and degree courses were offered. Expansion of the teaching staff numbers became imperative to provide the degree course in Metallurgy and, to this end, Bob Robins was recruited to establish subjects in extractive metallurgy. During 1962 Noel Kennon also joined the Department from the School of Metallurgy at UNSW, adding significant strength in the area of physical metallurgy. In 1964 Bob Robins decided to return to chemical engineering at the UNSW and was replaced by Nick Standish (extractive metallurgy) and Steve Merrick (mineral processing). Steve left after about a year, but Nick stayed on and provided the bulk of the extractive metallurgy coursework over the next 25 years. In the mid '70s, Nick was assisted for several years by Brian Collins who was appointed as a Tutor in the Department.

During the late '60s and early '70

s, the academic staff of the Department was further strengthened by Nony Salasoo (thermodynamics and refractories), Malcolm Atkinson (mechanical metallurgy), Druce Dunne (physical metallurgy and microscopy) and Gordon Delamore (solidification). Tom Barnes retired in 1974 and was succeeded by Tara Chandra (hot working and mechanical metallurgy). The increase in academic staff numbers was accompanied by growth in the technical support staff. A highly skilled and resourceful group of people was assembled, greatly assisting the teaching and research programs undertaken by the Department. Technical and laboratory support staff in the first decade of the Department included Roy Barnard, Ken Ireland, Graeme Chegwidden, David Flynn, Bob Goff, Mary Gallagher, John Lewin and Olga Treay From the mid '70s new faces started to appear: Fred Groves, Ron Kinnell, Bob de Jong, Darius Krivenek and Graham Hamilton in the mechanical and electrical workshops; and Margaret Standen and Tony Pearce in the metallography, microscopy and other laboratories. John Lewin, the last remaining technical staff member of the '60s group, resigned in the early '80s. Two research assistants were appointed at around the end of the '70s: Lyn Middleton (1978) and Jeune Eshman (1981). Both research staff members contributed many years of valuable service to the Department.

The Eighties

Following the retirement of Geoff Brinson in 1984, the Departmental Review Committee charted a new course from metallurgy to a materials degree program. The Department was re-named Metallurgy and Materials Engineering in 1986 and subsequently became the Department of Materials Engineering (1988). The Chair was offered to Bill Plumbridge, from Bristol University in the UK. On joining the Department in 1987, Bill set about developing a fully integrated materials course. He resigned in 1990 and in the years before and after his term as Head, the Department was capably led by Noel Kennon.

Sharon Nightingale was appointed as a lecturer in ceramics in 1987 and Udo Buecher was recruited as a polymer specialist in 1988. Sharon and Udo came from BHP and although Sharon stayed on, Udo decided to return to BHP and an industrial career after one year in academia. The vacant position was filled by Geoff Spinks in December 1989. The increase in numbers of academic staff was accompanied by a peak in laboratory and workshop personnel and much of the Department'?s success over this period flowed from the skill and innovation of the technical staff in designing, building and maintaining research equipment. Vacant professional and technical staff positions were filled by Ross Smith (electron microscopy) 1982-1988, Greg Tillman (metallography) and Nick Mackie (electron microscopy) in 1989; and Andrew Scobie (workshop) in 1992.

The Nineties

Druce Dunne was appointed to the Chair of Materials Engineering in 1992. The period of 1988 to 1998 was marked by especially strong research output, catalysed by peak academic staff numbers, the employment of more than 15 postdoctoral researchers on limited term contracts and up to about 60 research students. Most of the research activity over this period was conducted within the Advanced Materials and Surface Engineering Program (1989-1995) and the Research Centre for Advanced Materials Processing (1995-2003). Both of these research centres were initiated and led by Druce Dunne and they enjoyed substantial success in attracting government and industrial research funding. By the late '90s, larger research enterprises had evolved from this fertile research background: the CRC for Materials Welding and Joining (led by Professor John Norrish), the Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials (ISEM, Professor S.X. Dou), and the BHP Institute for Steel Processing and Products (ISPP, Professor Rian Dippenaar). In addition, Geoff Spinks was contributing significantly to the Faculty of Science's Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI). Materials was firmly established as a major contributor to the high profile research activity of the University.

The inflow of research funding was used in part to employ Postdoctoral Fellows and many talented researchers typically spent periods of 1 to 5 years in the Department before moving on to other positions. Much of the research success of the Department was due to the substantial contributions of these researchers. One of the longest serving Fellows, David Wexler, holds a continuing appointment and has become a core member of academic staff of the Department. Other contributions to Departmental research or technical support during this period came from Lee Brunckhorst (microscopy , polymer and ceramic materials), Shaun Hamilton (workshop) Steve Blayney (surface engineering laboratory) and Jose Gonzalez (workshop).

From 1992 to 1996 the Department undertook a significant and challenging education and research program with Krakatau Steel in Cilegon, Indonesia. The offshore teaching contract was negotiated by Nick Standish and Noel Kennon and involved delivery of Master of Engineering Practice coursework programs in metallurgy to over 100 engineering staff with no or little formal exposure to materials science and engineering. In addition, 21 ME(Hons) and PhD research projects by materials engineers from Krakatau Steel were successfully completed within this program. The contract was a huge financial and academic success, largely due to the effort and energy of Nick Standish who lived in Indonesia, post-retirement, over the course of the program, skilfully managing and coordinating the program.

A series of retirements, starting with Malcolm Atkinson in 1989 and continuing with Nick Standish (1993), Noel Kennon (1994) and Gordon Delamore (1994), precipitated a series of new academic appointments: Masoud Samandi (1992, surface engineering), Geoff Brooks (1993, extractive metallurgy), Zhixin Chen (1995, electron microscopy), Michael Ferry (1995, physical and mechanical metallurgy) and Andrezj Calka (1996, solidification and powder processing). From 1998 to 2000, Geoff Spinks conducted fulltime research with IPRI and his Departmental duties were taken up by Chris Lukey. Academic staff number had peaked at nine in the mid '90s but they subsequently fell due to the resignations of Ferry (2000), Brooks (2000) and Samandi (2001). The net number of academic staff decreased to seven after the extractive metallurgy position was filled by Brian Monaghan in the second half of 2001. Druce Dunne retired in May 2003, and become an Honorary Professor of the Faculty of Engineering. David Nolan was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in July 2003, maintaining the core of seven staff members, and fortifying the metallurgical expertise available within the Materials Discipline.

Overview of the Four Decades

Administrative Assistants certainly played major roles in the smooth conduct of the business of the Department over its four decade lifetime, with notable contributions, in chronological order, from Beatrice Henderson, Mary Faulkner, Felicity Fairlie-Cunninghame, Patricia Batt, Ann Webb, Rhondalee Cambareri and Joy de Mestre. Futhermore, many Honorary staff members made strong contributions to the quality of the teaching and research programs of the Department. Particularly valuable support was contributed by Professor Howard Worner (Illawarra Technology Centre), and Robert Hobbs and Colin Chipperfield of BHP Steel.

The undergraduate curriculum was progressively changed during the four decades to maintain the relevance of the degree program to industrial needs and to conform with restructuring within the Faculty of Engineering. Despite a course focus on the broad sweep of engineering materials, a strong steel metallurgy emphasis has been retained in keeping with the ongoing support of the undergraduate program by BHP. Over the forty years, about 550 students graduated with Bachelor degrees and about 175 students were awarded ME and PhD research degrees.

Although the Department has been close-knit and focussed on teaching and research in metallurgy and materials, several academic staff members have contributed significantly to the wider University community. Prime examples are Brinson (Chair of Senate), Kennon (Dean of Engineering), Dunne and Spinks (University Research Committee) and Nightingale (Chair of Faculty EEO and Education Committees).

The Department has enjoyed close working partnerships with BHP (Port Kembla), the Wollongong Branch of the Institute of Materials Engineering Australia (IMEA) and the metallurgy and materials undergraduate student society, METSOC. Three of the Departmental Heads (Brinson, Kennon and Dunne) were also Presidents of the Wollongong Branch of the Institute and they, and other academic staff, have contributed strongly to this professional body over many years. These three Heads have also been at different times Patron of the METSOC.

Appropriately, the background to this text is an image of the copper sculpture by Gino Sanguinetti, commissioned by the Wollongong Branch of the Australian Institute of Metals (now IMEA), and donated to the Department to celebrate the autonomy to the University in 1975. The copper sheet was donated by Metal Manufactures (MM) Ltd and representatives of BHP Steel, BHP Coated Products, MM and other local industries were members of the Branch Committee, chaired by Malcolm Booth (MM), that developed the idea of this gift to the Department of Metallurgy. Although there has been some debate about what the sculpture symbolises, there is certainly no doubt that it epitomises the close working partnership between the Department, the Institute and the local metallurgical industry. Despite the recent restructure into a combined School with Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering these partnerships are expected to continue, and to help maintain Materials as a distinctive discipline within the School.