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New materials are urgently needed as coatings in a wide range of
industries. Advances in medicine are driving the demand for
biocompatible high-performance surfaces for medical devices, such as
cardiovascular implants and prosthetic joints. Marcela Bilek has invented methods
for manipulating ionised matter (plasma) by means of electric and magnetic fields
in order to create uniform, high-performance surface coatings.
She has developed techniques of treating materials with
high-energy ions and thereby reducing their intrinsic stress and improving adhesion. This is
the key to the production of robust, high performance coatings
required for demanding applications such as implantable medical
devices and high speed cutting tools. These methods are being used
in Australia and internationally.
There are many materials and alloys which have not yet been
synthesised. Many of these may have properties suitable for
applications of the future. Marcela's research group is exploring multicomponent
nanolaminate ternary and quartery alloys using a high current pulsed cathodic arc developed by her group. The fine control of composition facilitated by the centred triggering design has led to the first cathodic arc synthesis of a MAX phase material and foreign orders for the deposition system.
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