	Vision and Mission. A company's vision and mission is the driving force behind what they do. So what drives Future Materials? ---more
	Future Materials Capabilities Database. Including details of expertise, research facilities and equipment the Capability Database is a great tool for matching industry need with university supply ---more

Future Materials Weblog

FM Awards 2006
Congratulations to the finalists and winners ---more

Case Histories

Extensive case history file.
The following represents a small selection of the way in which the resources of Future Materials have been utilised ---more

Partners and Sponsors

Supporters and Sponsors
Sponsored by AusIndustry, Future Materials brings together the resources of Australia's foremost materials technology research institutions---more

Corporate Sponsors

Future Materials News

Research News
	Australia’s brightest new shining light It cost $207 million to build and has taken several years to put together but Australia’s latest piece of research infrastructure is now open for business. The Australian Synchrotron was officially opened at the end of July and hopes are high for big returns in a number of research fields. The synchrotron is a source of powerful light that scientists can use to assess the structure of materials down at the molecular level. ---more

Tin Tacks
	Engineering safer mudbrick constructions Adobe mud brick is the construction style of choice for the majority of the world’s poor living in rural areas. They simply can’t afford any alternative. Mud bricks are cheap and can be produced using local materials. Unfortunately they’re also inherently brittle and structures made from them are particularly vulnerable to the risk of earthquake. ---more

Know your material
	Microbes point out arsenic, cadmium and lead When events turn sour they’re often described as going pear shaped. Researchers at CRC CARE are discovering that if the water isn’t fit to drink, it’s more likely that things are going star-shaped. They’ve discovered that some forms of microbial pond life go star-shaped which dangerous levels of toxic heavy metals are present. ---more

Sensational Materials
	Turning waste wood into resource What happens to wood disposed in landfills? That’s the question being investigated by a team of scientists from Ensis who will conduct a nationwide study involving sifting through tonnes of urban waste. The study will quantify the volume and types of wood waste being dumped at strategic waste facilities across Australia. ---more


	The world’s oldest diamonds discovered They may not be big but they certainly are old. Four billion year old microdiamond inclusions in Jack Hills zircon have been discovered through a collaborative research effort involving researchers from Curtin University of Technology’s Department of Applied Geology in the Western Australian School of Mines and the University of Munster’s Institute of Mineralogy in Germany. ---more


	Chalk + protein = wonder material (abalone shell) Researchers at the University of Queensland (UQ) have discovered a gene found in the tropical abalone that controls the striking blue and red colours found in the mollusc's shell. ---more

Archive News

Editor - David Salt