UCT Centre for Materials Engineering

UCT Centre for Materials Engineering The Centre for Materials Engineering at UCT is a postgraduate centre within the Mechanical Engineering Department.

The CME carries out research, education and training in the field of Materials Engineering. The Centre for Materials Engineering at UCT provides postgraduates with opportunities for research activities aimed at addressing national needs in terms of both the provision of technological solutions and the development of skilled graduates. Our competitive and comprehensive honours programme is open to graduates in the fields of Chemistry, Biochemistry, Physics, and Geology and is the prefect foundation for a career and further research in Materials Engineering.

23/09/2026

Ewan takes us behind the scenes of his Honours project titled "The fabrication of Nano-scale Graphene Devices for Quantum Computing Application Using Electron Beam Lithography".

Graphene has very interesting conductive properties due to its sp2 hybridised structure. One of these interesting properties is how ballistic transport of electrons works in graphene. Ballistic transport occurs when the device size is smaller than the mean free path of the electrons, so it is often observed in nano-materials. However, graphene has an exceptionally large mean free path, meaning that the electrons could travel up to several micrometers before scattering.

Ewan will be assessing if graphene a suitable material to use in quantum computing to overcome the quantum decoherence issue.

Graphene flakes preparation for transfer into a Hall bar device geometry ❄✨🔬.
21/09/2026

Graphene flakes preparation for transfer into a Hall bar device geometry ❄✨🔬.

3D printed tensile and 3-point bending specimens produced using masked stereolithography additive manufacturing for para...
16/09/2026

3D printed tensile and 3-point bending specimens produced using masked stereolithography additive manufacturing for parametric optimisation research.

04/09/2026

Diving into Honour's Projects ✨!

Marc shares his insight on tuning the flexural properties of basalt fibre reinforced composites. His goal is to develop a reliable way to comparatively test different composite layups and understand how they can be optimized for differential stiffness in diving fins 🐬

Basalt fibres are not only incredibly strong, but also offer exciting sustainability benefits. And their applications go far beyond diving. From bridges to boats, basalt composites are making waves across engineering 🌊

We came for the speckles, but the laser had other plans ✨Dialling in laser parameters to create the ideal speckle patter...
24/08/2026

We came for the speckles, but the laser had other plans ✨

Dialling in laser parameters to create the ideal speckle pattern for DIC (Digital Image Correlation) resulted in this colourful surface anodizing effect on the steel.

A close up look of the fracture surface of an LPFB fabricated CoCrMo sample
17/08/2026

A close up look of the fracture surface of an LPFB fabricated CoCrMo sample

22/07/2026

Digital Image Correlation (DIC) strongly relies on a speckle pattern that is regular and can easily be tracked. Laser ablating the paint off a sample enables the speckle pattern to be perfectly created and calibrated to the camera lens to facilitate data collection.

Congratulations to Thorsten Becker and coauthors on their recent publication in Springer’s Progress in Additive Manufact...
17/07/2026

Congratulations to Thorsten Becker and coauthors on their recent publication in Springer’s Progress in Additive Manufacturing journal titled “VOF-based multiphysics simulation of laser powder bed fusion of
SiO₂/AlSi10Mg composites: melt pool dynamics, heat transfer, and composition migration”!

Chapman's Peak ⛰ through our lenses 🔬This micrograph captures three zones (steel wire, intermetallic layer and coating) ...
13/07/2026

Chapman's Peak ⛰ through our lenses 🔬

This micrograph captures three zones (steel wire, intermetallic layer and coating) of the Zn coated steel wires that form part of the catch fence at Chapman's Peak. The coating plays a huge role in preserving the integrity of the fence structure especially in such a highly corrosive coastal environment.

10/07/2026

Strength meets sustainability. 💪🌱

Exploring lightweight design, flexural performance, and failure behaviour for next-generation composite structures.

4-point bending testing of sandwich panels manufactured from 3D-printed biopolymer gyroid cores and asymmetric GF facesheets.

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University Of Cape Town
Cape Town

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