DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials (CoE-SM)

The DST / NRF Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials (CoE-SM) is a major South African Research Network hosted by the University of the Witwatersrand, in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, the Universities of Johannesburg, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, the Council for Minerals Technology (MINTEK) and the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (NECSA). There are more than 30 researchers and over 100 postgraduate students active in the Centre from a number of disciplines including physics, chemistry, metallurgy, chemical and mechanical engineering.

Strong materials are those that retain their distinctive scientific and applied properties under extreme conditions and have established or potential commercial applications. E xtreme conditions include some or all of the following: High stress; High wear conditions; Extreme temperatures (high and/or low); harsh chemical or corrosive environments; strong fluxes of damaging radiation. D istinctive properties retained would typically include one or more of the following: Hardness and toughness; high mechanical strength and stiffness; wear, corrosion or radiation resistance. Research programmes of the Centre involve the prediction, design, synthesis, evaluation, development and exploitation of strong materials.

The Centre has an overall Director (Prof. Lesley Cornish) and is organized into 6 Focus Areas, three of which are based in the School of Chemical and Metallurgical engineering, namely Ceramics (Prof. Jack Sigalas), Carbides and Cermets (Dr. Natasha Sacks) and Strong Metallic Alloys (Prof. Lesley Cornish, Dr. Lesley Chown and Josias van der Merwe).

For further information please contact Mrs Moira Messenger (Senior Secretary)
Tel: 27 (0)11 717 6828 Email: moira.messenger@wits.ac.za Fax: 27 11 717 6830

For more information: Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials