UCT Centre for Materials Engineering

Behind the scenes 🧐: Sherlyn preparing for the next step of composites manufacturing. She puts in extra care and precision to ensure consistency, quality and performance of the final product ✨.

The calm before the corrosion: Alloy 230 in its pristine state before exposure to metal dusting conditions. Will it survive? Yay 🎉 or Nay 🌪

Congratulations to Thorsten Becker, who presented a keynote lecture titled “From printability to reliability: Rethinking material performance in metal additive manufacturing” at the 8th International Conference on Innovative and Smart Materials (ICISM) 2026 that was hosted in Cape Town, South Africa. The conference is a fantastic opportunity to share the research we do at the CME with international colleagues and connect with potential collaborators in the field. ICISM conference serves as a unique gathering for scholars worldwide in the field of Materials Science to discuss emerging technological trends in the realm of Materials Science.

Congratulations to Nicolas Macallister, Thorsten Becker, and Léa Deillon on their recent publication in Elsevier’s Materials & Design journal titled “A stochastic damage-tolerant framework for fatigue strength prediction in additively manufactured alloys”!

The paper highlights:

•Statistical representations of the stochastic defect distributions in Ti-6Al-4 V and.
•Al-10Si-Mg materials produced via PBF-LB are created.
•The effect of multiple features (defect size, shape, location, and clustering of internal and surface roughness equivalent defects) within the distributions as a source of fatigue scatter is underscored.
•Subtle, unexpected fatigue failures that better reflect the scatter in real fatigue behaviour are emphasized.

Its published Open Access so be sure to give it a read https://lnkd.in/d8HWE4me

A sincere thank you to Devon Hagedorn-Hansen, PhD from HH Industries for presenting an invited guest seminar to the CME! In his seminar, he discussed the current state and future of advanced manufacturing in Africa! His seminar highlighted the opportunities and challenges of developing advanced manufacturing capabilities within the unique contexts of Africa and South Africa. As HH Industries stands as one of the leading companies in advanced manufacturing within the African scenario, his seminar highlighted vital insights into the industry and where academia and research within materials science and engineering can support these endeavors. HH Industries has had a longstanding relationship with academia and has a collaborative project with the CME through the DSTI supported and CSIR managed Collaborative Programme in Additive Manufacturing (CPAM) programme, with several ongoing postgraduate students working under this programme.

Dr Devon Hagedorn-Hansen holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering from Stellenbosch University with a focus on Additive Manufacturing with Laser Powder Bed Fusion. He has over 14 years of experience with various 3D printing technologies and a high level of expertise and project exposure in Additive Manufacturing for the aerospace, medical, oil & gas, and tooling industries. He has established a good reputation in the field of Laser Powder Bed Fusion which is recognised both locally and internationally through various projects, collaborations, publications, conferences, social media, and technology transfer packages. He has educated and trained hundreds of students and clients around Additive Manufacturing and is the Founder and Managing Director of HH Industries as well as the Managing Director of Multitrade 3D Systems. He has a passion for 3D Printing in Africa and actively tracks all the major events happening on the continent with the goal of industrialising Africa, one layer at a time.

Congratulations to Thorsten Becker and colleagues on their recent publication in Elsevier’s Powder Technology journal titled “Laser powder bed fusion of nano-SiO₂/AlSi10Mg composites for lightweight optical applications”!

The article highlights that:

- Nano-SiO₂ modified AlSi10Mg powders enhance flowability for LPBF processing.
- LPBF-fabricated AlSi10Mg/SiO₂ exhibits increased texture.
- Porosity and oxide clustering reduce tensile strength and elongation by ∼16–48%.
- Lightweight hexagonal mirror fabricated, demonstrating good thermal stability.

Be sure to go and give it a read at https://lnkd.in/d9ivmy77

Congratulations to James and Thorsten on their recent publication in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 🌱 it’s published Open Access so be sure to give it a read!

Congratulations to the class of 2025 🎓🎉
As you step into the next chapter, may you continue to strive for excellence and make a meaningful impact in your endeavours ✨.

We’re excited to share the recent publication in Elsevier’s Materialia journal titled “Spatially Engineered Strength: Thermomechanical Notch Strengthening in Additively Manufactured 316L-IN718”! This work emerged from a productive research collaboration organized by Melody Neaves at Stellenbosch University, with Calvin M. Stewart, PhD (Ohio State University) making a research visit under the co-hosting of our CME team Thorsten Becker, Maxwell Vos, and David Dallas. Congratulations to all involved — here’s to building on this success with future collaborative research! Be sure to give it a read at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589152926000827

Congratulations to Michael Hills and Thorsten Becker on their recent publication in Elsevier’s Materials Today Communications titled “Fatigue strength prediction of additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V: A defect-based physics-informed neural network”! This work provides a fascinating insight into developing a framework that uniquely bridges the gap between data-driven flexibility and fracture-mechanics rigour, offering a transferable, physically consistent approach for AM fatigue prediction even when experimental defect data is sparse. Be sure to give it a read https://lnkd.in/ddH_gsK4